Adam Levine leaving N.Y. store Basics
Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, March 14, 2005
New York — Adam Levine is leaving retailer Basics Furniture here after 12 years at the family-owned business to pursue other opportunities in the industry.
The Basics vice president said he will continue to hold an ownership stake in the 5,000-square-foot store, but is turning over his responsibilities primarily to his brother, Cory Levine, and his father, Harvey Levine. He plans to leave by March 1.
"As rewarding and fulfilling as running the family business has been, I have come to a time in my life where I am ready to move on, and I'm excited about the possibility of trying something new," said Adam Levine. He said he plans to stay in the furniture industry.
Basics has generated headlines in recent years, landing TV exposure on NBC's "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and Bravo's "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy."
One of Levine's proudest accomplishments: an award-winning ad campaign launched in 1998 that included print ads with the theme, "A cheap chair for your cheap ass." Levine said it "was so powerful that people even today walk up to me, point, and recite it."
He said the campaign and other quirky pieces that followed from agency Stain nyc helped give the store a personality, which was a key to its success.
He said he hopes to land with a company that's preferably larger than Basics, is interested in growth using "out-of-the-box creative methods," and is "committed to furthering the industry as a whole."
