Levitz opens stores in Nevada, New York
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, May 26, 2003
Woodbury, N.Y. — Levitz Home Furnishings Inc. has opened Levitz stores in Henderson, Nev., and Yonkers, N.Y., natural expansion moves for the Top 100 retailer, which is proceeding cautiously with growth plans in a tough economic climate.
Earlier this month, LHFI, parent company of Seaman's and Levitz, opened a 38,000-square-foot Levitz in Henderson's Warm Springs Promenade, a retail center on West Warm Springs Road anchored by a Sears store and not far from R.C. Willey Home Furnishings' first Las Vegas-area store.
The company also soft-opened a 65,000-square-foot Levitz on Central Park Avenue in Yonkers, in a strip center that also features a Best Buy and Burlington Coat Factory store.
Another 43,000-square-foot Levitz is expected to open in New York's Bronx borough late this year or early next year.
All three moves are "no-brainers," said Alan Rosenberg, chief executive officer of LHFI, now with 75 Levitz stores and 55 Seaman's and Seaman's Kids.
Leases for the Henderson and Yonkers stores were negotiated some time ago and "they will just add tremendously to the business we're doing in those two territories," Rosenberg said.
"Henderson is a growth market. I don't think there is a bigger population growth area in the country today than Las Vegas," he added.
Levitz has one other Las Vegas store in a more established area. With the new unit, it hopes to bring the chain to where more consumers are moving.
Rosenberg said the Yonkers location is Levitz's northernmost store in greater New York.
"It's always been a good market for Seaman's," he said. "This is basically totally new business (for Levitz). It will not cannibalize business from any other Levitz and gives us a whole new (consumer) in Westchester County."
He added that Seaman's business initially may be affected by the opening but, in general, both chains have prospered when their stores are located near each other. Many of the best stores for both chains either share a parking lot or are across the street from their sister retailer.
"We know the total aggregate business we gain will more than offset any cannibalization," Rosenberg said.
The planned Bronx location also is untapped territory for Levitz, he said. At the same time, Levitz is already advertising in the New York market, so it can leverage existing costs.
And that's the way LHFI is playing the expansion game this year, after a more aggressive 2002, when it opened a net 18 new stores, primarily through the acquisition of former HomeLife Furniture leases.
"We're pursuing other opportunities, looking for things that make every sense in the world to open — no-brainers," he said. "We're not opening speculatively into a tough economy."
In greater New York and New Jersey, Levitz has eight full-line stores to Seaman's 31 full-line stores and nine Seaman's Kids units.
Levitz's newest stores blend category-specific galleries with lifestyle displays for a "full-house feel," Rosenberg said.
Key suppliers include Palliser, Klaussner, Ashley, Berkline, Mike Cims, Legacy, Universal, Sealy and Serta.
Levitz and Seaman's now have centralized merchandising leadership under Senior Vice President Loreen Epp, but have worked to differentiate their promotional to midpriced assortments from each other since the chains were merged under common ownership in 2001.
Rosenberg wouldn't disclose sales projections for the new stores. Ranked No. 4 on Furniture/Today's Top 100, LHFI had estimated furniture, bedding and accessory sales last year of $965 million, up about 5% from $920 million in 2001.
A brutal winter took its toll on sales, but Rosenberg said both chains saw a nice pickup in business over the past month.
"Coming into Memorial Day, we're hopeful we'll have some better days ahead," he said.
