More Wickes in works
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, March 17, 2003
Seffner, Fla. — At least eight new Wickes Furniture stores are in the works, mainly in the Wheeling, Ill.-based retailer's existing large markets.
The 34-store Wickes also is well on its way to reconfiguring much of its assortment and display to mirror the lineup and room-package structure of Seffner, Fla.-based Rooms To Go. RTG and investment group Sun Capital Partners teamed up to acquire Wickes last summer.
"We're in the process of adding and relocating (Wickes) stores, especially in the major markets in Chicago and Los Angeles, but we'll probably relocate some in smaller markets too," said Jeff Seaman, president of Rooms To Go.
After Rooms To Go and Sun Capital Partners acquired Wickes in a deal valued at more than $75.6 million, Wickes closed its five stores in the Dallas area — the only market in which it overlapped with Room To Go — converting one to RTG. Howard Slavin was named Wickes president and chief executive officer, replacing John Klein, and Joe Browne, Wickes' longtime vice president of merchandising, resigned.
Seaman said the eight new Wickes in the works in Chicago and Los Angeles include new and replacement units. Some could open within a few months, and others could take two years.
He also expects that in the next two years, Wickes will open more than eight stores, although he did not project a number.
"One of the opportunities with Wickes is to upgrade their locations," he said. Because it was undercapitalized under its previous owners, or for other reasons, the chain has been inconsistent in replacing older stores and building out top markets, he added.
"They have 12 stores in Chicago and only 10 in L.A., and L.A. is a far bigger market, so they need more units," said Seaman. "We're not sure (how many), but a lot more than 10."
He said the new stores will be larger than Room To Go's 25,000-square-foot average, but smaller than a typical Wickes, which varies widely but averages about 50,000 square feet.
"Location is more important than size," he said.
In product, Wickes is changing to more of a Rooms To Go approach. Slavin estimated about 60% of the work in merchandising is complete. Dave Mattea, a Wickes store manager promoted to manager of visual display, and Slavin have developed the first floor plans for the stores, moving away from rows of furniture by category and culling product to favor RTG's room vignettes.
"We've reduced our presentation by 35% to 40%," Slavin said. "Now the customer can see the furniture, the entire rooms, as opposed to being jammed in."
Wickes already has brought in Rooms To Go upholstery suppliers Corinthian and HM Richards, in which the Seaman family has ownership stakes, as well as RTG's Asian case goods sources.
"Because of RTG's infrastructure, we were able to negotiate better pricing, which makes us far more competitive in all our markets," Slavin said. Rooms To Go, with 96 stores, had sales of $1.3 billion last year, excluding Wickes.
Wickes plans to add more product from Jackson, Progressive and Alan White, all suppliers to Rooms To Go. In motion upholstery, the company is building its business with Action and looking at Catnapper, even though these are not RTG suppliers, Slavin said.
He said the company will finalize many sourcing plans at the upcoming High Point market.
"We will be more meaningful to fewer people, and that will solidify our relationships," he said.
He would not disclose the suppliers coming off the floors, other than Berkline and BenchCraft.
Slavin said the changes already have produced dramatic results. In early March, same-store sales are running 40% ahead of last year, and Wickes recently had its highest-volume weekend ever — even without the former Dallas stores — following a private mailer promotion modeled after a Room To Go event. Slavin would not disclose dollar amounts.
With the expansion and other changes, Slavin projects a double-digit sales increase this year over the approximately $365 million Wickes did in 2002. In addition to Chicago and Los Angeles, Wickes has stores in Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and Portland, Ore.
Slavin said Wickes won't replace Browne. Slavin has taken on Browne's upholstery merchandising duties and is getting additional merchandising input from Morty Seaman, Jeff Seaman's father and Rooms To Go partner.
Even with all the RTG-like changes, Jeff Seaman said there are no plans to change the Wickes name to Rooms To Go, though he didn't rule it out for the future.
