Portrait of a Valley store
By Tom Edmonds -- Furniture Today, January 13, 2002
VAN NUYS, Calif. — A barebones operation promoted by a rogues' gallery of marketing characters, Michael's Furniture here is hot, unfazed by the retail swoon that accelerated since Sept. 11.
Every market, it seems, has a bootstrap promoter like this, but few can match the nonstop energy and perpetual state of event marketing at Michael's. Located in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles, it is a regular in the regional Pennysaver and runs campy cable commercials that are either funny or unbearable, depending on your taste for puns and silly gags.
With an endless stream of events like live radio feeds, turkey giveaways or appearances by sports personalities, Michael's is up close to 25% for the year. The store keeps plugging away week after week, promising people that it has the best prices because "we're the store with the low overhead" — as owner Jerry Reisman doffs his hairpiece.
"I always have a goal to go up every year without spending any money, at least 8% to 10%," Reisman said, explaining the strong gains Michael's has made this year. "As we get stronger every year, more of our competitors fall by the wayside. Since the war, I've gotten more aggressive. We're promoting right through instead of sitting here pouting, and we're having a good run."
The 40,000-square-foot warehouse store is a Spartan affair, with cement floors and minimal accouterments. This reinforces the value message since Reisman firmly believes that "price is everything," although his recent success has also taught him that reputation counts for a lot, too.
The son of a furniture retailer, Reisman, 52, has been building that reputation as a furniture retailer for 30 years. "When other people wanted to be doctors and lawyers," he said, "I knew I was going to sell furniture."
So he got started early, buying a small shop in Van Nuys in 1971 at the age of 22. The previous owner of the 10-year-old business was named Michael, and the name stuck because "I couldn't afford to change the sign."
The way it works
Reisman moved to his current location in 1975, but the most important upgrade to the business took place in 1972 when he married Roz, who continues as the chief administrator for this $9 million-a-year, non-computerized business. "I'm more the outside person, and I do the advertising and the sales floor," Jerry said. "Roz runs the office and everything else. She keeps us headed in the right direction."
The advertising is built around a cast of characters played by store staff, including Reisman's Mattress Mike. Also on hand are Bunny, Boxspring Bob and Furniture Faye, played by Reisman's daughter.
Reisman obviously tries to have fun with his advertising, while also driving people into his store. He runs a "Going Out for Your Business" sale every quarter, making a play on words with the name of the latest failed retailer.
"Everything we do is fun," Reisman said. "Talking to the customers in the showroom is fun. When they see me, they know me from TV, and they smile."
Michael's merchandise mixes closeouts and distressed manufacturer inventory — a big event this year was built around a buy Reisman made after Ward's closed — with a regular assortment of promotional and midpriced lines.
"We'll buy anything," Reisman said. "And we pass value on to the consumer. We get a tremendous amount of repeat and referral business because they trust us to provide value. Once a week, somebody stops me in the store and tells me they bought from me 20 years ago. That's always a special feeling."
And how it does work!
Michael's has eight salespeople, and each member of the staff averages about $1 million in sales per year. Store Manager Mat Herman believes this uncommonly high total is attributable to several factors, not the least of which being the lack of turnover on this experienced staff. Most of them have been with the store for eight years or more.
Plus, salespeople don't let shoppers leave without a sales ticket, turning them over and negotiating the price until a purchase is made. "We don't beat people up," said Herman, a former Stratolouger sales representative. "We keep them in the store by giving them a reason to buy. Our close ratio is at least 50%."
With this TO sales system and its blaring advertising, Michael's is an old-school furniture store. In fact, the store, with an adjoining warehouse where about half the customers pick their furniture up immediately after purchase, is not computerized. "We're not very computer smart here," said Reisman. "I'm scared of them."
He's not scared to spend money when he sees the advantage in it, though. For instance, he buys lunch for his 32-person staff every day, at an annual cost of more than $50,000.
"I want everyone to be happy, and I want to keep it a family atmosphere," he said, adding that an additional benefit comes to him from keeping staff in the store or in the warehouse. "We want to be available for our customers when they need us."
| Michael's Furniture celebrities: Boxspring Bob, left, Mattress Mike and the Bunny. |
| Left to right: Jerry, Faye and Roz Reisman. |
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