Drexel store debuts in Westchester County
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, February 8, 2004
HARTSDALE, N.Y. — HARTSDALE, N.Y. — Drexel Heritage has come back to affluent Westchester County with the opening of a 16,000-square-foot store here.
Drexel's 38th unit, the store on South Central Avenue soft-opened in late December and may become one of the top performers in the licensed network. The grand-opening event last week drew Drexel Heritage executives as well as Mickey Holliman, chairman and CEO of parent company Furniture Brands International.
Drexel Heritage President Jeff Young said the location is minutes away from some of the top-performing upscale stores in the United States. He said the new store should rank among the top five Drexel units.
The store, which is in the same location where another Drexel Heritage store was years ago, is owned and operated by Seymour Milgrom, Maryann DiGregorio and her son Michael DiGregorio. Milgrom and Maryann DiGregorio also own a 10,000-square-foot Drexel Heritage store in Manhattan with partner Marty Katz.
Maryann DiGregorio said the initial consumer response has met expectations despite icy weather. She said the owners project the store will do $7 million to $8 million annually which, with about 13,500 square feet of display space, would put sales per square foot in the range of $519 to $593 — well above industry averages.
Drexel said the latest opening is part of the company's strategy to penetrate important markets nationwide.
"We partner with the best furniture retailers in prime markets," said Blain Wrench, vice president of store development.
The Hartsdale store is the first to have a new interior layout as well as a full assortment of fresh merchandise developed under the dh, Drexel and Heritage brands. Maryann DiGregorio said the owners are happy with the direction Drexel management has taken the company in the past two years.
"They've done a lot to broaden the product line to make it more accessible to a wider scope of consumers so that they have something that will appeal to a young customer as well as the very upper end," she said.
The new store has a sleep shop, home accents rug gallery, a leather gallery and an extensive presentation of Drexel Heritage's premium Lillian August collection.
Next month, operator Raj Saviegh will open a 10,000-square-foot Henredon store — another Furniture Brands company — next to the Drexel Heritage store, filling out the retail building. (Similarly, Treasures owner Alan Glass opened a Henredon store in Irvine, Calif., and plans to open a Drexel store next door this month.)
This type of bundling, while not a formal program, "is something we're looking at where it makes sense" — such as when a building is too big for just Drexel or Henredon, Young said. "We feel the two lines are extremely complementary."
For its newest stores, Drexel is aiming for 18,000 to 19,000 square feet of display space, topping out at about 21,000 square feet.
Since the Westchester County opening, Drexel has opened stores in greater Chicago and Charlotte, N.C., for a total of 40 units. The company expects to open 15 stores this year, including stores in Dallas, Atlanta, Colorado Springs, Colo., and Burbank, Calif.
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