Virginia's Green Front readies N.C. store
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, September 23, 2001
FARMVILLE, Va. — Green Front Furniture will open a 31,000-square-foot-store in Raleigh, N.C., the Top 100 company's first foray into the state as it looks to a new venue for its offering of high-end goods at low prices.
Green Front Interiors and Rugs is expected to open in early October in high-visibility leased property at the intersection of Capitol Boulevard and the Interstate 440 Beltway on the fast-growing southeast side of the city.
The store, an affiliate of Green Front, will be owned by Green Front President Dick Cralle and other unnamed members of a Green Front executive committee.
The showroom is far smaller than the 650,000 square feet in 15 buildings for Green Front in Farmville. But the retailer is looking to bring its strengths and best-selling goods to the new market, as it did in Sterling, Va., in the metro Washington market, where the company opened a store in 1995.
"The reason we're opening in Raleigh is to move merchandise," Cralle said. He noted that Green Front's buyers — including himself — spend over 100 days a year shopping for goods overseas, and bring in an average of one container load a day.
"You bring in (merchandise) like that, you've got to move it out," he said.
While the merchandise mix could change based on demand, Cralle expects that about 40% will be furniture and bedding, 40% rugs and 20% decorative accessories.
Key domestic supplier will include Stanford Furniture, Hancock & Moore, Cibola, Sherrill, Huntington House, Theodore & Alexander, Maitland-Smith, Artistica Metal and Habersham.
"What we're trying to do is give people a cross section of Green Front in Farmville," said Bill Carter, chief operating officer. "We go to England five times a years (for) English antiques and reproductions. We think that could be huge for us here."
Green Front also has begun importing case goods from Indonesia that will be featured at the new store, he said.
Carter described Green Front as a no-frills retailer and high-end retailer rolled into one. "If you come to (the store) with your checkbook and want to fill a house or a room, you can do it in one day and you can take it home with you if you want to."
As in Farmville, Green Front doesn't plan any big advertising campaigns. Neither Carter nor Cralle would disclose sales estimates for the new store.
Ranked No. 97 on Furniture/Today's survey of Top 100 U.S. Furniture Stores, the retailer generated furniture, bedding and accessory sales of $52.3 million last year, up 5.3% from the year before.
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