Campbell's Thomasville connection is a winner

By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, November 25, 2001

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — John Campbell's office is modest, cluttered and a little on the dark side.

On one wall he has stapled more than 100 photographs, mostly of his Thomasville Home Furnishings employees having all sorts of good times in his six New York stores, at parties and at Campbell's East Hampton vacation home.

There's a handwritten sign on the door urging visitors not to knock, just to come on in, and when asked if this revised take on an open-door policy is part of a bigger company philosophy, Campbell said, "Absolutely."

Plus, "I don't want to keep saying, 'Who's there?'"

It's about 9:40 a.m., and the lamp on his desk isn't working. Campbell explained that his office was built into former showroom space. There's only one receptacle available for his lamp, and it's controlled by the tenant next door, who usually doesn't come in till around 10. a.m. But a minute later, the light flicks on like magic, and Campbell no longer has to work in the dark.

"Ah, good," Campbell said, pointing to the wall. "He's early."

It's not exactly the kind of setting where one would expect to find the pioneer of Thomasville's blossoming, dedicated store program and one of the most successful store dealers in the 144-store network. And, in a way, this isn't his place.

Campbell's base camp is on his Thomasville floors on Long Island, Manhattan, and elsewhere in greater New York, where he spends a good 80% of his time. He pays most attention to the front end of the business, one of the key ingredients to the success of his company.

Campbell has more than 45 years in the furniture business. He cut his teeth at Huffman & Boyle — the precursor to now-competitor Huffman Koos. He has led the former Colby's in Chicago, American Furniture in El Paso and Barker Bros. in Los Angeles, and he's learned enough about inventory and other backend pitfalls to avoid them at all costs. Indeed, that's all they are, he says — costs.

He lives by the creed, "Never buy inventory at any price. It will eventually hurt you." And he found his perfect partner in Thomasville, with whom Campbell's only inventory is sold orders.

There are many retailers — at least in the more modest price range — that would argue against this philosophy, but it's hard to argue with Campbell's results.

The partnership works

His very first (the very first) Thomasville Home Furnishings Store opened here in Farmingdale in 1987 and generated about $6 million in its first full year. His stores have been profitable since year one.

Today Campbell's flagship store is a leader among Thomasville stores, generating sales of more than $1,000 per square foot. Last year, there were three $2 million sales writers throughout Thomasville's store network. All three worked for Campbell.

His five stores generated total sales of $38 million, up about 20% from the year before. Average sales per square feet are about $670, more than triple the average for all furniture stores. Campbell's newest store — opened in Garden City, N.Y., early this year — is tracking at more than $1,000 a square foot, just like the Farmingdale unit.

This year, Campbell said he's shooting for $42 to $44 million in total sales, an estimate that was lowered slightly following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack that toppled the World Trade Center, killing thousands and decimating business for many.

Thomasville would not release detailed, network-wide performance statistics, however, Campbell's stores would be among the top performers in the dedicated store network, said Bob Shaak, vice president and general sale manager for the manufacturer.

"I've known John Campbell for the past 25 plus years, and, in my vision, he has always been an excellent merchant," Shaak said.

"He has a great passion for the furniture business, for what he does." And that passion and enthusiasm "goes right through to the staff."

Fred Starr, longtime friend, former president and chief executive officer of Thomasville and now president and CEO of Natuzzi Americas, credited Campbell with founding the store network and for pushing up Thomasville's plans for opening stores by about two years. He holds Campbell in high regard for his integrity, business skills and general retail knowledge. If Thomasville had to bet on a retailer to advance its store plan, it picked the right one in Campbell, he said.

"He's live up to every expectation we had and a lot more," said Starr. "He's just a wonderful partner — always unswervingly supportive of our efforts."

Starr said Campbell never presented himself as the owner of Thomasville stores, but more as a manager, believing that the story for consumers was really in Thomasville name, not his stake in the business.

Starr also described Campbell as one tough real estate negotiator, who has always recognized how important rents and location are to the success of a store.

"I'd hate to be a landlord negotiating with John Campbell," he said.

Success after success

From the beginning Campbell has been a master of pinching pennies or, at least, squeezing out value. He cut as many corners as possible before opening his first Thomasville doors, among other things recruiting his son Doug for some of the most tedious and exhausting tasks at that first store. Doug left a nice position at Barker Bros. and was immediately put to work in those start-up days, painting the 13,000-square-foot store ceiling solid black while his father complained that he was using too much paint. As John Campbell puts it, Doug "thought he had left and gone to hell."

But if this was hell, it was also an immediate success for Campbell and Thomasville, the beginning of 15 consecutive years of profitability and impressive, yet careful growth. In 1991, Campbell opened a second store in Oceanside in Nassau County. (It was the only location mistake for his company to date, and it was closed four years later.)

In 1993, Campbell's Coram, N.Y., store was opened. Today, Doug Campbell manages the store. John Campbell's other son Jeff is in sales there.

In 1994, it was on to Bayside, N.Y., where Campbell took over a Thomasville store from another dealer. A fourth store opened in Westchester, N.Y., in 1998, followed by the Thomasville boutique in Manhattan in 1999 and finally Garden City this year.

Expansion plans are in the works but don't seem to be pressing. Campbell said he is looking in East Hampton, N.Y. Also, with Huffman Koos and Thomasville gradually unraveling their relationship, Campbell foresees a vacuum in the Nanuet, N.Y., market that he said would be of interest. "But it's not set in stone yet," he added.

Sales, meanwhile, have grown from $6 million that first year to about $20 million in 1997 to more than $40 million projected this year. There's no doubt the Sept. 11 disaster has hurt business this year, he said, particularly during the week of the terrorist attacks and ever since at the Manhattan boutique, which through October had yet to show signs of improvement.

But through the rest of the stores, Campbell has seen the business coming back, and that's what he's used to.

A system that works

"When that first Thomasville sign went up, the credibility was instantly there," Campbell said. "And I subscribed totally to the Thomasville store program from day one. I never bought other product to fill in." Indeed, before Thomasville began producing upholstery, Campbell was buying sofas strictly through The Thomasville-owned Gilliam Upholstery.

He believes that 100% commitment has been key to making the business work. He said he has always believed in the company's management, its integrity and its ability to produce product that sells on a consistent basis.

On the display side, Campbell has embraced Thomasville news lifestyle layout at all stores in one form or another, though the core of his business remains in Thomasville's traditional assortment.

And Thomasville's inventory management systems have been just what he was looking for in a resource partner.

"To this day, we do not buy one piece of inventory unsold," he said. While its possible to rush certain orders when necessary (sometimes Campbell's stores can deliver within two days of an order) average delivery time is about three weeks and that seems to be just fine with vast majority of his customers.

"A lot of people don't mind the wait," he said. "There is a mystique about waiting for it that makes it perfectly acceptable."

Today Campbell's back shop is "uncomplicated," he said, and occupied by six women (one part-time) in a small room behind the Farmingdale showroom and the Storis software system. Together they handle all of the payables and receivables, sales taxes, commissions, order entry, delivery scheduling and personnel issues.

Two 60,000-square-foot warehouses, one in Clifton, N.J., and the other in Islip, N.Y., on Long Island serve all the stores.

The company has no buyers outside of Campbell, and "when I go to market, I'm there for four hours and I'm out."

In his 15 years with dedicated Thomasville stores, Campbell have not advertised a price or a discount — with one small exception recently in an effort to rejuvenate business at the Manhattan store following the terrorist attacks. There are occasional deferred payment promotions, but his newspaper ads — which account for about 65% of his ad budget — are product- and image-oriented, designed to protect and enhance the Thomasville brands, he said.

"We do a lot of four color," he said. "Sale events, urgency always. Price and discount — never. This is the strength of the Thomasville name. This is a strong name in the market, and we're trying to position it so that it's always strong."

Like many retailers, Campbell's stores have felt economic pressure this year even before Sept. 11, yet they still enjoy good business, and there are no plans to change plans.

"I think the wealth factor has shifted from the stock market into housing, which has helped us," he said. And since Sept. 11, "there's been a subtle shift back into the home. It's clearly evident.

"The house has become the haven. Something this industry has been trying to create for a long time has resulted because of a tragedy."

Campbell's newspaper ads are product- and image-oriented, focusing on the Thomasville brand and playing up a sense of urgency without promoting price or discount.

John Campbell poured everything he had into the launch of the first-ever Thomasville Home Furnishings Store in Farmingdale, N.Y.