New Uptown format gives Billy Bob's room to grow
By Tom Edmonds -- Furniture Today, July 14, 2003
An eye toward a franchising program, a small office/home office retailing pioneer has developed a smaller store format under a new name that will serve as the model for planned expansion in Michigan and South Florida.
Following a 21-day makeover, the original Billy Bob's Gameroom Furniture store reopened here last month as Uptown Billy Bob's. This edited version of Billy Bob's, with about 8,500 square feet of display, will be the prototype for the company's expansion into South Florida later this year.
"We're still showing a fabulous assortment of merchandise, but this represents the best of what we've got," said Heather Seroka, vice president. "With the changes we've made, it's a very consumer-friendly experience, and we've been hitting our goals since we reopened."
Uptown Billy Bob's floors about 20 home office vignettes and about 20 home theater groupings of upholstery and wall units, but computer kiosks give shoppers and salespeople access to the full assortment found in the five larger Billy Bob's Gameroom Furniture stores, which show 40 vignettes each in home office and home entertainment.
"We're trying to keep it small and keep it simple," Seroka said. "We still have enough here to provide a comprehensive selection of home office and home entertainment and the seating that goes with it."
Uptown Billy Bob's is the format the $20 million-a-year company intends to open in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in October, said Bob Seroka, president of the 10-year-old company. And it's also the concept that Seroka would license to other retailers.
"This smaller format makes it very manageable, and somebody could come in and get started with an investment of $500,000," he said.
The Serokas announced in March the company would open a half-dozen large-format stores in South Florida starting this summer, but those plans were modified to reflect spotty business conditions and to make the program more accessible financially to individual investors. Also, plans to open a store in Ann Arbor, Mich., have been pushed back to early next year.
Business this year has not been easy for Billy Bob's, whose Detroit-area stores have been affected by troubles in the auto industry and at the nearby headquarters of Kmart as well as by the general economic malaise.
"We projected a 25% downtick right up to the fourth quarter, but we feel there's a lot of pent-up demand out there," Bob Seroka said. "Once people figure their jobs are secure and stable, they'll be going out and spending some money."
And he's as bullish as ever on his core categories. "People are still shopping both home office and home theater hard," he said. "These are still the furniture categories that get people excited and make them think about what they want rather than how much it costs."
Billy Bob's entertainment cabinetry and desks are supplied by Creative Ideas, Gautier, Orman-Grubb and Stanley. Office seating comes from OCI and Healthsyle. Jonathan Louis is the resource for home theater upholstery, in leather and Microber.
