El Dorado: Out with the first, in with the new
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, February 9, 2003
Miami — El Dorado Furniture has opened a new store on the site of its first store here, with the new unit more than double the size of the old and featuring the chain's signature Boulevard streetscape display format.
The 38,000-square-foot store on Calle Ocho in central Miami replaces El Dorado's original store, which developed into a 16,000-square-foot unit. The old store was closed about a year and a half ago and demolished. Adjacent property was acquired for the new store.
"Thirty-six years ago, I started a small store with two of my sons on the corner of this block," said Manuel Capo, founder and chief executive officer of the eight-store, Top 100 company, which expects to do $150 million in sales this year.
"Now the new store extends over the whole block. This is a great source of pride for us," he said, adding the new store is a testament to his family's unity, hard work and the efforts of El Dorado's 700 employees. Capo and his seven sons now run El Dorado.
The new store is relatively small for El Dorado, which had to scale down its Boulevard concept — an in-store, old-fashioned streetscape with furniture shops lining the "street" — in order to make it work, said Pedro Capo, chief operating officer.
The store features 12 shops, with most of the interior storefronts reflecting the architecture of "old Cuba" from the 1600s to 1800. Some of the standard shops at other Boulevard stores were merged, including home office with recliners and curios with clocks.
But because the store is carrying the best of the best from other Boulevards, El Dorado expects higher sales per square foot and is looking to do almost $10 million annually here, over three times the old store, Pedro Capo said.
Key suppliers include Palliser, Lane, Pulaski, Gautier, Schnadig, Timbercrest, AICO, Natuzzi, Chateau d'Ax, DeCoro, Hooker, Orman Grubb and Simmons. The store features El Dorado's signature Carlo Perazzi collection of contemporary furniture from Alf Uno and other suppliers, and a Pirate's Cove youth furniture area.
The store was built by Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Stiles Corp., which has done all seven of El Dorado's Boulevard stores as well as work for competitor City Furniture.
Even before the Feb. 1 official opening, the store was a big success, Pedro Capo said. On the soft opening day last month, he was approached by a customer who said Capo sold him his first bedroom set there nearly 20 years ago, giving him $800 in credit while asking few questions. The customer was there to buy a new bedroom set.
"It's a neighborhood kind of store," Capo said. "Traffic has been tremendous."
In September, El Dorado plans to open its ninth and largest store, a 140,000-square-foot Boulevard showroom in Kendall, Fla., in the south Miami area. In addition, it will complete a 120,000-square-foot expansion to its Miami Gardens distribution center, bringing total warehouse space to 370,000 square feet.
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