S. Florida retail boom
Robb & Stucky, Carls opening big stores north of Miami
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, November 11, 2002
Boca Raton, Fla. — Two Top 100 powerhouses are raising the stakes in the hotly contested South Florida market, with three big stores opening through early next year.
Fort Myers-based Robb & Stucky will jump to Florida's east coast for the first time with the first-quarter opening of its 14th store, an 80,000-square-foot showroom in Boca Raton's ritzy Mizner Park shopping village. The store will be a testing ground for a series of non-furniture line extensions that could be rolled out to its other locations if successful.
Meanwhile, Boca Raton-based Carls is in the midst of its biggest expansion program ever with the opening of its 70,000-square-foot flagship store and attached 15,000-square-foot Carls Patio showroom in fast-growing Coconut Creek. In January, it will follow with its largest store, a 79,000-square-foot Carls, and a 15,000-square-foot Patio store in northern Miami, boosting its store count to 18.
The combined moves intensify the battle for high-end sales by retailers — including Baer's and several designer showrooms — in a market bolstered against a rocky economy by a booming housing market and second-home sales. Carls' business, all of it in South Florida, will be up about 6% this year, said President Fred Friedman, and he's looking for a 25% increase next year, after its biggest stores are up and running.
