El Dorado opens third Boulevard superstore
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, September 3, 2001
PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. — El Dorado Furniture has opened a 110,000-square-foot superstore here, its eighth unit and third in the expanded Boulevard format.
The store, on an outparcel at Pembroke Lake Mall, is in one of the fastest growing communities in South Florida, said Robert Capo, vice president of marketing and advertising for the family-owned, Top 100 company.
He would not disclose current sales projections, but last year, El Dorado estimated that this new store and another opening in Hialeah, Fla., each would generate between $25 million and $30 million in annual sales.
Ranked No. 61 on Furniture/Today's survey of Top 100 U.S. Furniture Stores, El Dorado did $94 million in furniture, bedding and accessories sales last year, up 26% from the year before.
"Grand opening day was spectacular, beyond our expectations," Capo said. The 500-space parking lot was full all day as more than 8,000 consumers visited the store, he added.
Like the other large Boulevard stores, the new store has furniture and accessory shops off an interior streetscape, complete with lampposts, parks benches and faux stone bridges. Some of the 19 shops are dedicated to styles others to categories.
Among them: Carlo Perazzi, featuring contemporary styles from Alf Uno and Collezione Europa; La Casita (little house) with starting price points from suppliers such as Palliser and Action Lane; and Shades of Leather, with leather upholstery from Natuzzi and Chateau d'Ax and entertainment units from Hooker and Orman Grubb among others.
Other key suppliers to the store include DeCoro, Lexington, Pulaski, Gautier, Schnadig and Timbercrest.
All but one of El Dorado's eight units feature some form of Boulevard design, though most are on a smaller scale.
A fourth, 110,000-square-foot superstore Boulevard unit will open in October in Hialeah, replacing an approximately 30,000-square-foot store across the street. It will have a few tweaks to better serve the market, Capo said, with less merchandise at the high end of El Dorado's price spectrum and the retailer's first 5,000-square-foot clearance center.
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