TULSA, Okla. — Mathis Bros. has opened a 205,000-square-foot superstore and warehouse here, replacing a much smaller unit and continuing an aggressive expansion strategy that will boost the Top 100 company's presence in new and existing markets over the next two years. The new store, a roughly $20 million investment, features a 100,000-square-foot showroom and offices, and a 105,000-square-foot racked warehouse with 40-foot ceilings.
It replaces a 50,000-square-foot store and warehouse, which is being converted to the retailer's promotional Factory Direct Furniture & Beds concept and should open later this month or by early February.
Designed by Jack Aguirre of San Francisco-based Jack Aguirre Associates, the new superstore is laid out largely by furniture category, with most categories subdivided by lifestyle.
Among the highlights are a large leather gallery, a contemporary-themed restaurant and refreshment areas, and a design gallery with a façade that resembles an Italian villa, where Mathis is featuring large displays of its midpriced and high-end lines.
"It has almost a mall effect," Aguirre said of the store, adding that he was trying to create a relaxed, open environment.
Interior features include themed "store fronts" for various departments, including a bedroom area with a condominium look, a dining room department that looks like a restaurant, and a central leather gallery with large Spanish arches and palm-leaf fans like "something out of Casablanca," Aguirre said.
The main walkway through the store is in ceramic tile.
With the larger store, Mathis brought in several new lines and expanded offerings from existing suppliers, said Brad Woessner, general manager of the Tulsa store.
New are GuildCraft of California, Sealy upholstery, Largo, Douglas, Legacy, Bernhardt and Century. The latter two are displayed in the design gallery along with Henredon, Ralph Lauren, Lexington, Thomasville, Baker and Drexel Heritage.
Other key suppliers include Broyhill, La-Z-Boy, Ashley, Universal, Samuel Lawrence, Lane and Natuzzi. Bedding suppliers are Lady Americana, owned by Mathis Bros., Serta and Simmons.
'The place was packed'
"The first day we were open … the place was packed, and we really haven't started advertising," Woessner said.
The retailer won't disclose early sales figures, but both traffic and sales have exceeded expectations, said Bill Mathis, president and partner in the business with his brother Larry Mathis. The company is conservatively projecting the new store will generate annual sales of about $60 million this year, more than double the former store.
Mathis is looking for the upcoming Factory Direct store in Tulsa to do about $15 million this year, pushing total furniture, bedding and accessory sales for the soon-to-be six-store retailer to about $200 million this year, compared with $167 million in 2001.
The new store "is going to have a lot more regional draw than I think even we estimated," Mathis said, adding that it will offer one-stop shopping for consumers as far away as northwest Arkansas and Kansas.
"There are a lot of towns an hour or so drive from Tulsa, and I think we'll benefit from those demographics as well," he said.
Mathis has been busy elsewhere. At its Oklahoma City home base, the company opened a 16,500-square-foot Drexel Heritage store last year, then followed in December with a new 60,000-square-foot Lady Americana bedding factory, where wholesale sales are projected to climb to about $14 million this year from about $9 million last year.
Later this month, the company will open a 10,000-square-foot Bijan Rug Gallery between its Drexel and Thomasville stores. That venture is co-owned by Bill and Larry Mathis and gallery operator Joe Majma.
And this spring, Mathis plans to break ground on a 100,000-square-foot expansion of its Indio, Calif., complex, a move that will double the size of the showroom and warehouse. Each will grow to 100,000 square feet by the time the project is completed this fall.
Meanwhile, Mathis' plans for a 312,000-square-foot store and warehouse in Dallas have been pushed back a bit, with construction now expected to begin in spring 2003, with an opening that fall.
Mathis said the company is updating its warehousing to high-cubed, racked systems and wants to learn a few lessons in Tulsa before it attacks Dallas.
Back in Tulsa, Woessner called the new warehouse a "huge blessing," noting it replaces a roughly 20,000-square-foot operation. It has five times the capacity of the former warehouse and "can operate with fewer people and less damage," he said.
| A traditional leather group with nailhead trim from LeatherTrend is featured in the Tulsa store's leather gallery. |
| Mathis Bros. uses an Italian villa theme for the entrance of its design gallery area, featuring presentations of midpriced to high-end lines. |
| Traditional Broyhill upholstery hugs the wall outside the new store's master bedroom department. |
| Natuzzi's Dreamfibre upholstery, left, and a contemporary leather upholstery group from Sealy/Klaussner's Emerald Canyon collection get prime positioning near the entrance of the store. The marble and metal table with the Sealy group is from Collezione Europa. |
| Mathis creates a Paris apartment in its design gallery with a leather sleigh bed from the Paris segment of Thomasville's Hemingway collection, upholstery by Drexel Heritage, occasional tables from Henredon's Folio 21 collection and case goods from Century's Omni collection. |
| Mathis Bros.' new 205,000-square-foot showroom and warehouse in Tulsa is expected to generate sales of about $60 million this year. |
