Gallery store owner plans store relaunch by fall

Aims to replace warehouse by first quarter of 2010

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, June 5, 2009

HOUSTON — Gallery Furniture's Jim McIngvale said he expects to have roughly half of his main showroom open by July 4 and the whole store up and running by fall as the Top 100 company recovers from a devastating warehouse fire.
The May 21 blaze destroyed Gallery's 70,000-square-foot warehouse and damaged its 100,000-square-foot main showroom next door.
For now, the retailer is doing business from its satellite stores on Post Oak Boulevard and is receiving shipments and delivering goods from temporary warehouse space donated by a competitor in Sugar Land, Texas.
After a press conference yesterday, McIngvale told Furniture/Today that he hopes to have a new warehouse up by the first quarter of 2010, but wasn't sure how large it will be.
The renovated store, meanwhile, will have the same 100,000-square-foot footprint, but McIngvale said he plans major improvements.
Among them: "tide pools" or resting areas spaced throughout the showroom. Many customers come to Gallery to buy rooms of furniture but quickly become overwhelmed by the size, he said.
"That's because they have no place to rest," McIngvale said. He equated the "tide pool" concept to the need for base camps if you're climbing Mount Everest. Four or five such areas, also called "interruption zones," will let consumers to catch their breath, collect their thoughts, have a snack or enjoy a peaceful indoor garden.
McIngvale also promised that Gallery's new recliner and rug departments will be like none other. He said the store will feature "actualization rooms" - home furnishings settings with a specific point of view that consumers can walk into and say, "That's me!"
"We're going more that direction than just lining up 20 sofas like we used to," he said.
He estimated the cost to rebuild will be at least $20 million and probably closer to $30 million.
According to local reports, Gallery has received a $3 million down payment on its insurance claim to get started.
Last month's huge fire drew response from 31 area firehouses. Firefighters saved the store, McIngvale said, adding that now, "It's time for us to give back." He said the retailer will give $10,000 Gallery gift certificates to each firehouse to buy new mattresses, TVs or other home furnishings for the stations.
Authorities have determined the fire was caused by arson. At the June 4 press conference, McIngvale said neither he nor his wife, Linda, have hired attorneys because they are not guilty of the crime.
"I would rather cut off my two hands than burn down my life work of 28 years," he said, according to a report by Houston television station KTRK.
"At the end of the day, this is our saving grace: Good always conquers evil," McIngvale told Furniture/Today. "Justice will be served and ... good people will prevail."