Bacon's revamps flagship store
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, January 5, 2003
Port Charlotte, Fla. — Bacon's Furniture Galleries is revamping and expanding its flagship store here, broadening its offering at its middle price points with a new breed of Lexington Home Brands gallery and the addition of Norwalk upholstery.
The three-store, midpriced to upscale retailer will boost its main showroom by 22,000 square feet to about 70,000 square feet when the project is completed in March.
With the $2.2 million expansion and remodel, the company expects sales will increase to $18–20 million next year from about $16 million this year, said Bill Bacon, president. Bacon's also is adding space to its warehouse.
Much of the effort is focused on the new Lexington gallery — a 10,000-square-foot store-within-a-store concept.
"The idea was to try and represent some portion of all of their brands," Bacon said. "Lexington's story is a good one. They've developed all these brands within a brand and if you don't represent it well, you're really shortchanging the customer."
Bacon is increasing its Lexington display space by about 3,000 square feet, working closely with the supplier on design and other issues to ensure good exposure of all Lexington brands — including Tommy Bahama, Nautica, Waverly, Susan Sargent, Southern Living, Palmer Home and Bob Timberlake.
It has been a challenge, Bacon said.
"There's no question you have to do some stacking and things like that," he said. But Bacon said he took similar measures at his just-renovated Thomasville Home Furnishings store in Sarasota, Fla.
One feature of the Lexington area will be a computer that will enable consumers to easily access the manufacturer's Web site and print out high-resolution images and information on furniture, including items not be displayed on the floor.
With the expansion, Bacon's also is broadening its offering from some of its other existing sources, including Broyhill, and adding a 3,000-square-foot Norwalk upholstery gallery. Other key suppliers include Thomasville, Drexel Heritage, Stanley, Braxton Culler, Hammary, Clayton Marcus and Palliser.
Bacon's will continue to group furniture throughout its main showroom by manufacturer's gallery, sticking to its philosophy of doing a lot a business with a few suppliers.
"I don't know if it's right or wrong, but it works for us," Bacon said. He compared the store environment to a trip to High Point, where goods are organized by source, "all in beautiful displays."
His Lexington store within a store is one of three dedicated gallery stores that dealers in various markets are opening. Lexington Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bob Stec described the new program as an "upward extension" of the company's existing network of some 250 in-store galleries.
In September, Huntington, N.Y.-based Classic Galleries opened a 12,000-square foot stand-alone Lexington Home Furnishings store (with some space dedicated to bedding and a few other items) in Amityville, N.Y. And in late January or early February, Hufford Furniture in Chicago will open a slightly smaller Lexington store.
The first freestanding Lexington store was opened by Norris Furniture in Fort Myers, Fla., in 2000, but the new stores fall under a new, more compact prototype.
"It really has grown out of our gallery program," said Stec. He said Lexington has a growing number of retailers who have had success with their galleries and are interested in expanding.
And while Stec said Lexington is talking to 10 to 15 other retailers looking at expansion, he said the manufacturer isn't pushing dedicated stores but rather productivity and profit improvements and greater Lexington exposure where it makes sense.
"We don't, as we sit here today, have designs on a store program as others do," he said. "We're after the most productive space. If it's a gallery, that's fine. If it ends up being a freestanding store, that's fine, too.
"We're not obsessed with (thinking) we've got to have X number of stores," he added. "What we want is X square feet of well-displayed space, manned by well trained salespeople people."
Bacon said Lexington is working closely with the retailer on everything from design and distribution to advertising and sales training.
Stec said the company believes the galleries or stores can generate from $250 to $300 per square foot. Lexington has a minimum retail pricing policy that gives retailers average gross margins of about 45%, "so its very productive and very profitable space for them," he said.
Before opening the Amityville store, Classic Galleries had roughly 1,000 square feet dedicated to Lexington at its Huntington, N.Y., store on Long Island. The line was at the bottom of the retailer's high-end assortment.
"I believe in the Lexington management, that their distribution patterns are going to be favorable for their dedicated stores, and they've given me every opportunity to make this a success," said Alan Fromkin, Classic Galleries owner.
Fromkin would not provide sales information but said the Lexington store has exceeded projections.
The new store occupies part of a 25,000-square-foot building that Fromkin now owns. "We do plan, with Lexington's approval, to expand into some more Lexington (furniture) and we're looking for other lines to partner with to fill out that space," he said.
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