Fire destroys Gallery Furniture warehouse

Main showroom in Houston closed for now

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, May 22, 2009

HOUSTON — After a fire destroyed Gallery Furniture's distribution center here last night, owner Jim McIngvale told Furniture/Today this morning that the retailer is already working to get ready for a busy holiday weekend.

"We're finding a (temporary) warehouse today," he said, adding that the store has 12 trucks of furniture that needs to be unloaded and sold.

The four-alarm fire ripped through the warehouse starting at about 8:40 p.m. Thursday, according to the Houston Chronicle's account of the fire. But the flames didn't reach Gallery's 100,000-square-foot flagship store next door.

McIngvale said the store "has a lot of water in it, but other that that I think its safe."

No injuries were reported in the fire.

He said he doesn't know when he'll be able to reopen the store. But he said that in the meantime, Gallery will remerchandise its recently opened 15,000-square-foot satellite location at Post Oak and Westheimer to squeeze in more furniture.

"We're going to get up with these vendors.... We're going to start selling and we're going to have a good weekend," he said. "We're stable, we're strong and we're excited about the future."

He said the fire was "a terrible tragedy" but added that just as he teaches his children and employees about bouncing back in tough times, "we're going to turn this tragic event into a lesson in resiliency."

Gallery Furniture will be ranked No. 54 on Furniture/Today's latest survey of Top 100 U.S. Furniture Stores - coming out Monday - with furniture, bedding and accessories sales last year of $110.2 million.