Carls launches $25M growth plan in South Florida
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, November 10, 2002
Coconut Creek, Fla. — Carls has opened a 70,000-square-foot flagship store and 15,000-square-foot Carls Patio here as part of a $25 million-plus expansion, pushing for even greater market share in South Florida.
In January, the company plans to open a 94,000-square-foot store off the busy Palmetto Expressway in northern Miami, a former Levitz location, among a cluster of Top 100 furniture stores. It will house a 79,000-square-foot Carls store and a 15,000-square-foot patio store, pushing the total store count to 18, with 11 main showrooms and seven patio stores.
The new Coconut Creek stores, southwest of the current headquarters, are part of a 400,000-square-foot showroom, distribution center and office complex that has been in the works for some time.
The midpriced to high-end retailer moved from a smaller warehouse in Pompano Beach to the 266,000-square-foot, state-of the-art distribution center earlier this year and expects to move corporate offices here from Boca Raton early next year.
"This new facility strengthens our position in the highly competitive South Florida marketplace," said Fred Friedman, president of the Top 100 company. With the indoor and patio lines under one roof, "we can offer convenient one-stop shopping for customers in northern Broward and southern Palm Beach counties."
The flagship store, Carls' largest to date, features more than 175 fully accessorized room vignettes on two main levels.
A central platform between the two levels highlights fashion-forward, keynote groups, Friedman said. On the platform, which will be freshened regularly, Carls initially is displaying high-end contemporary looks from John Charles Designs and Creative Elegance.
The main showroom features a mix of manufacturers' galleries and displays in such categories as small office/home office, youth furniture and floor coverings.
The galleries include large displays of Bernhardt, Century, Ferguson Copeland, Lane's Raymond Waites, Vanguard's Michael Weiss, Natuzzi, Feizy rugs and Sealy and Stearns & Foster bedding.
Other key suppliers include Stanley, American Drew, Bassett, Shermag, Boyd, Hooker, Lea, Precedent, Bauhaus, Alan White, Klaussner, Palliser, Leather-Trend and Schnadig. Patio store resources include Woodward, Brown Jordan, Lloyd Flanders, Cast Classics and Lane.
In addition to a high-ceiling atrium entrance, the Coconut Creek store has Italian marble floors and a grand central staircase that takes visitors to the upper level and central platform.
The complex is in an affluent, high-growth area that Friedman said is home to Carls' target consumer — age 30 to 60 with household income starting at about $75,000.
The facility has 10,000 square feet for future showroom expansion and 28,000 square feet that Carls will lease to complementary home goods providers. "We're in negotiations with some kitchen cabinet people now for some of that space," Friedman said, declining to name the company.
The two projects come at a time when Carls is bucking a national trend of slumping high-end furniture sales. Friedman said sales this year could reach $120 million, up from $113.1 million last year. And with the new stores and some smaller expansions next year, sales are expected to hit $150 million in 2003, he said.
The office move will free up about 8,000 square feet for additional showroom space at the Boca Raton store, Carls' top-volume location, pushing total square footage there past 50,000 square feet. In Stuart, Fla., Carls will expand the main showroom by 15,000 square feet and add a 12,000-square-foot patio store sometime next year.
Friedman said the new stores might cannibalize some sales from older stores nearby, but the retailer plans to counter that with increased advertising to drive traffic. For the Coconut Creek opening, Carls is blitzing consumers on all fronts — radio, television, newspaper and direct mail.
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