Bernie & Phyl's opening seventh store
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, June 23, 2003
Norton, Mass. — Bernie & Phyl's Furniture will open its seventh store this August in Raynham, Mass., filling in a gap in its Boston-area penetration.
The family-owned, midpriced retailer acquired a former Ames department store building on Route 44 southwest of Boston for $2.6 million and will convert it to a 55,000-square-foot superstore, said Bernie Rubin, president, and co-founder of the Top 100 chain.
The project will cost about $3.5 million, and the retailer is looking for it to do $12 million to $15 million in its first full year, he said. In total, Bernie & Phyl's is on track to do more than $90 million this year.
"I'd like to hit $100 million, but it might take until next year to do it," Rubin said.
The new store will be closer to Bernie & Phyl's 200,000-square-foot headquarters and distribution center in Norton, giving it better coverage in a growing, vibrant market southwest of Boston and into Rhode Island.
"This was one of our missing links," Rubin said. "We had to send (consumers in the area) 40 miles away to our nearest store. Now we won't have to do that."
The Raynham store will have an expanded bedding gallery, featuring the existing lineup of Sealy and Stearns & Foster mattresses, but also latex foam bedding from Bassett Bedding's Carrington Chase. (Stearns & Foster and Bassett Bedding are owned by Sealy.)
With the added bedding space, Bernie & Phyl's will offer more comfort choices within its existing price spectrum as well as raise the bar in better bedding, said Rob Rubin, senior vice president for merchandising and marketing. Bernie & Phyl's currently tops out at $1,800 for a queen bedding set, but will move up to $2,300 both in Stearns & Foster and Carrington Chase, he said.
Other key suppliers for Bernie & Phyl's include Alexvale, Ashley, Berkline, Brookwood, England, HM Richards, Klaussner, Magnussen Home, Master Design, Progressive, Thornwood, Vaughan, Vaughan-Bassett and Webb.
The new store also will include a 3,500-square-foot clearance center.
"This is a very exciting opportunity for us," Rubin said. "Our long-term growth strategy is to acquire sites where we see tremendous market potential. We believe that customers in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island are looking for the unparalleled shopping experience we offer."
Ranked No. 74 on Furniture/Today's survey of Top 100 U.S. Furniture Stores, Bernie & Phyl's had sales last year of $76.7 million, up 13.3% from 2001. The company said its compounded annual growth rate over the past five years has been 27%.
Last year's sales growth, average sales per square foot ($522) and average stock turns (12.4 times) were well above industry averages as well as the averages for the combined Top 100.
In the past two years, Bernie & Phyl's has prepared its infrastructure for continued growth in the market. Last year, the company expanded its corporate offices and added 47,000 square feet to its distribution center. The retailer also went to a high-tech racking system and GERS radio frequency inventory tracking, enabling it to double its distribution capacity.
Bernie & Phyl's also acquired 10 acres adjacent to its headquarters for future expansion.
This fall, the company will complete an expansion project in Nashua, N.H., more than doubling the size of its existing showroom to an 86,000-square-foot superstore, which will make it the chain's largest unit.
Previous plans to close its small Cambridge, Mass., store are off — at least for this year — as the retailer was able to extend its lease at that location, Rubin said.
"We're constantly looking for new locations," he said, adding that Bernie & Phyl's will complete the Nashua and Raynham projects before considering any additional sites.
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