Miskelly turns up the fun
Miss. retailer revamping flagship store
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, February 16, 2003
Jackson, Miss. — Miskelly Furniture will revamp and add 40,000 square feet to its flagship store here, aiming to turn it into a destination for furniture and fun.
The retailer will add a carousel, a sports bar and museum, an old-fashioned country store and other special touches as part of a $7 million to $8 million overhaul and expansion designed by Connie Post.
Miskelly recently broke ground on the new section, which is expected to be completed in November, said Tommy Miskelly, a partner in the family-run business with his brothers Chip and Oscar Miskelly. The existing 70,000-square-foot showroom will be redone in sections, and Miskelly expects the entire project to be finished by February or March of next year.
When completed, the store will be filled with entertainment-oriented features as well as open, flexible space "to continually have newness in the store," Post said.
Miskelly said the expansion and remodeling should help add about $10 million to $12 million in sales during its first full year. A contender for Furniture/Today's Top 100, Miskelly Furniture had $45.5 million in sales last year. In addition to its main store, the company operates a Howard Miskelly Furniture Clearance Center.
"We realize this business has got to be fun," said Tommy Miskelly. He said he and his brothers are borrowing ideas from other stores around the country, but the project will be unlike anything else in Mississippi.
Among the fun features is a $120,000, 30-seat carousel encased in a glass turret that will project out from the front of the store. Miskelly will ask riders for a $1 donation with proceeds going to the local children's hospital.
Between new La-Z-Boy and Lane upholstery galleries, Miskelly will add a non-alcoholic sports bar and museum, with big-screen TVs and a basketball court. Sports memorabilia on display will center on teams and athletes with Mississippi ties.
Other new features include:
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A bedding department modeled after one at Finger Furniture in Houston, with a European spa theme developed by Connie Post.
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An updated leather gallery warmed by a large stone fireplace.
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A Noah's Ark play and story-time area for kids, like the one Post introduced in 2000 at Grand Home Furnishings in Roanoke, Va., with pairs of big stuffed animals lined up to board the Ark.
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A "Daddy Skelly" country store, named after the Miskellys' grandfather and inspired by a similar store at Weir's Furniture Village in Dallas. It will sell penny candy, nickel cokes and gifts, many from Mississippi vendors and artists.
In the store's atrium, Miskelly will remove its furniture display and install a fountain with a granite globe of the earth — three feet in diameter — floating and rotating on water. Post said the $30,000 fountain is kid-friendly, very touchable and will include an engraved Bible scripture that reflects the Miskellys' faith.
"We have an ulterior motive with the entertainment," Miskelly said. "If you can get kids to want to go to a furniture store, you've done something. You've won."
The reworked store also will offer plenty of new merchandise and features for the midpriced furniture shopper. Among the highlights will be a new Miskelly's Grand Interiors area with upscale looks a half the price of high-end lines, Miskelly said. Grand Interiors' façade will be modeled after an antebellum home in Mississippi along the historic Natchez Trace corridor.
For the most part, the expansion will let Miskelly broaden its offering from its existing suppliers with the exception of GuildCraft of California — new to the store with a dedicated gallery.
Other key existing suppliers include Broyhill, Collezione Europa, Ashley's Millennium, Standard, Samuel Lawrence, Vaughan, Vaughan-Bassett, Massoud, Clayton Marcus, Alan White, Corinthian, Lane, La-Z-Boy, Natuzzi, New Generations, Albany, Sealy, Stearns & Foster and Simmons.
Near the entrance, a 5,400-square-foot Mimi's Market (named after the Miskellys' mother) will have a bazaar-like atmosphere with an emphasis on pillows, home accents and lighting, which will be updated frequently.
With the expansion, Miskelly hopes to broaden both its consumer base and geographic reach. Tommy Miskelly said the company has about a 50% market share in greater Jackson and hopes to reach 60%, in part by appealing to more affluent consumers with household incomes above $100,000.
And while the existing store already pulls from a 65- to 75-mile radius, the brothers want to stretch that to 100 to 150 miles.
"It would be nice to be the Nebraska (Furniture Mart) of Mississippi," Tommy Miskelly said. "That would be a good goal."
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