One-time Top 100 player Peppers closing all stores
Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, September 15, 2003
Chicago — Peppers Bedroom City is closing all six of its remaining stores here.
The longtime Chicago retailer and one-time Top 100 player hired Great American Group of Deerfield, Ill., to run the store closing sales, which began late last month. The sales are expected to continue until all the inventory is sold, which will probably take four to six weeks, said Jeff Yellen, president of the furniture division for the liquidation specialist.
Yellen said Great American is evaluating the possibility of bringing in additional inventory for the sales. He declined to disclose projected revenues.
Key suppliers at the Peppers bedroom specialty stores include Webb, Blackhawk, Fairmont Designs, Thunder, Ashley and Simmons bedding.
Peppers was once listed among Furniture/Today's Top 100 furniture stores as Peppers Waterbeds, with sales of $21.6 million in 1983 from 20 stores. In the past year, a group of undisclosed investors acquired four former Peppers leases to open Bassett Furniture Direct stores, according to Earlene Carlson, a spokeswoman for the BFD operators.
