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From Home Furnishing Business
Art Van Furniture Sets Plans for 18 Chicago-area Stores
October 22,
2013 by in Business Strategy, Furniture Retailing, Industry 
For the past decade, Art Van Elslander, one of the most powerful furniture retailers in the Midwest, stood by as a parade of storied Chicago chains, including John M. Smyth Co., Wickes Furniture Co. and Plunkett Furniture Co., nosedived into oblivion.
For an opportunistic merchant with an eye cocked toward Chicago for many years, Van Elslander saw big-box stores on prime corners going dark and felt like a kid in a candy store.
And now he's here.
At age 82, Van Elslander is leaping into metro Chicago. He plans to build 18 furniture stores of 40,000 square feet and more under the Art Van Furniture banner along with 15 smaller PureSleep mattress stores. His latest stores — in Bedford Park and near Chicago's Logan Square — will open on Saturday. Stores in Bolingbrook, Naperville and Oak Brook will follow next year.
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Source: Crains Detroit