From waterbeds to major store: Florida's Kevin Koenig dies at 54
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, December 2, 2001
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Kevin Koenig, founder of Waterbed City, which ultimately became Top 100 company and South Florida retail powerhouse City Furniture, has died of kidney and heart failure after years of poor health. He was 54.
Koenig, who ran the now 13-store City with his younger brother, Keith, got his start in 1971, opening an 800-square-foot Waterbed City store in Fort Lauderdale's Northridge Shopping Center. He worked all sides of the business in the beginning, cutting and staining waterbed frames by night and selling by day, while advertising heavily to educate consumers.
In 1990, as the popularity of waterbeds subsided, he diversified, adding innerspring mattresses to the line. In September 1994, the company made an even bigger leap, opening its first City Furniture store. The offering included living room and dining room furniture, wall units, home theater and ready-to-assemble, all in a fun, hip environment.
In the years that followed, the brothers opened new City stores, converted old Waterbed City units to the new format and climbed steadily up the Top 100 — to No. 37 based on estimated furniture, bedding and accessory sales of $168.1 million in 2000, up nearly 23% from the year before.
Sales this year should exceed $190 million, Keith Koenig estimated.
This month, the company opened a 660,000-square-foot distribution center, showroom and new corporate office in Tamarac, Fla., diving into the home office and outdoor furniture categories.
"This property was Kevin's vision, design (and) project for the last couple of years," said Keith Koenig, who has become president of the business. In a somewhat underdeveloped area, the new 90,000-square-foot showroom has been a "rousing success," generating more than $600,000 in sales in its first five days with no advertising, he said.
City Furniture is dedicating the new Tamarac building to Kevin Koenig at a ceremony Dec. 3.
A devout Catholic, Kevin Koenig lived frugally but was a philanthropist, making large donations to church and community charities, "but always … with no attention or pull for recognition," Keith Koenig said.
He called his brother "the smartest guy I knew," with very high integrity.
When he started the waterbed business, Kevin applied professional business skills that Keith said were unique for the industry at the time.
"He was a visionary in getting us into data processing in the late '70s," Keith said. "That decision, coupled with a strong commitment to making it work, translated — over a long period of time — into our current systems, which are extremely good."
Kevin Koenig struggled for years with heart trouble and other ailments. He had the first of several heart attacks in 1988. He had been ill in recent weeks, Keith said.
He never married, lived alone and didn't get out of the house much, mostly because he didn't feel well, Keith said. "City Furniture was his family in a lot of ways."
He said that while Kevin will be missed, "He was very well prepared for passing and left his company in good shape, and every one of us well prepared to move forward."
In addition to Keith and sister Julie Koenig, a Broward County Circuit Court judge, Kevin Koenig is survived by his father, stepmother, stepbrother, stepsister and several nieces and nephews.
Kevin and Keith Koenig have been named Retailers of the Year by Furniture/Today and will be honored at the newspaper's Leadership Conference this month in Key Biscayne, Fla.
"I know he took great pride in that (honor)," Keith Koenig said. "I look forward to receiving that award in his honor because a lot of it was his vision that led us to where we are now."
| Kevin Koenig |
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