Wolf turns up heat on growth
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, March 7, 2004
HAGERSTOWN, Md. — Wolf Furniture will open its largest store here this summer, part of an aggressive expansion that should help boost the Top 100 company's sales past $80 million this year.
Wolf has leased a 67,000-square-foot freestanding building, a former Home Co. location in the Prime Outlets center at Interstate 70.
When it opens in midsummer, it will replace a 27,000-square-foot store on the north side of the city. It also will have new features for the retailer, including an outlet area and a Kingsdown Sleep To Live bedding gallery, said Doug Wolf, president of the nine-store Bellwood, Pa.-based retailer.
Another relocated store, a 60,000-square-foot unit in Frederick, Md., is off to a great start since its January soft opening, he said. The company invested more than $2 million to renovate a former Hechinger's on Route 40, using a design similar to those of its stores in York and Lancaster, Pa., which opened in 2002 and include airy displays, wide aisles, and a mix of category and lifestyle displays.
Interiorscapes designed the interior of the Frederick store, which also has Pennsylvania House and La-Z-Boy galleries and puts a greater emphasis on home accents.
Wolf also will focus on accessories in Hagerstown, where it expects heavy drop-in traffic because of its location in an outlet center that draws 4.5 million shoppers a year.
"We have not had that kind of traffic in front of our showrooms before," Doug Wolf said. "Based on the sheer number of women shopping the outlet center, we anticipate there will be an enormous increase in (accessories sales)." He said accessories could account for 6% to 8% of the store's business, compared with less than 4% companywide.
He couldn't estimate Hagerstown's sales volume, but said it is likely to become the retailer's busiest store, topping Frederick, which is expected do more than $14 million. He said he understands Home Co. did about $18 million at the Hagerstown store, targeting the Washington/Baltimore suburbs. But Wolf aims to make the location a regional home furnishings superstore drawing from a larger area.
The 102-year-old, family-owned chain has been growing in both store count and store size, with 60,000 square feet of display becoming its preferred footprint. By the end of this year six of its eight full-line stores will be about that size.
Last year, the chain's furniture, bedding and accessories sales grew an estimated 17% to nearly $70 million and Wolf projects they'll top $80 million this year.
To help support that growth, Wolf plans a high-cubed, 37,000-square-foot expansion of its Bellwood, Pa., distribution center, by winter 2005. That will push the size of the complex to about 177,000 square feet and enable Wolf to leave the more than 50,000 square feet of overflow space it has been using in Conover, N.C., through freight company and consolidator Cargo Transport.
In Hagerstown, Wolf is testing new features including a 10,000- to 15,000-square-foot outlet area that will play to the strengths of the Prime Outlets center. Wolf will buy special goods it can promote at deep discounts, mainly take-with items or product available for immediate delivery, with an emphasis on upholstery. Gene Stolts, vice president of merchandising, will look for buys on sofas in the $399 to $599 retail range for the outlet area compared with $699 to $899 on the main floor.
For that main floor, Wolf will introduce some new vendors, "stretching up a notch or two in price point" and adding "more urbanized" collections to reflect the tastes of the market area, Doug Wolf said.
Hagerstown also will be home to Wolf's first Kingsdown Sleep To Live gallery, in 1,800 to 2,200 square feet with a separate exterior entrance and interior access from the main showroom.
"They are terrific business partners for us, and we've down exceptionally well with their DormoDiagnostics program," Wolf said.
The retailer has committed to a second Sleep To Live gallery at a new State College, Pa., store — also a relocation — to open in winter 2005.
Other key suppliers to Wolf's new stores include Klaussner, Broyhill, Vaughan, Morgan Stewart, Palliser and Sealy.
In Frederick, Wolf added a 5,000-square foot "Value Center" featuring closeouts and discontinued item from companies such as Golden and Dunmore. The store also is Wolf's first with a Soft Play area where supervised child care is offered during peak business periods.
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