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Miskelly’s puts fun in furniture shopping

Carousel, ice cream bars and new product keep customers coming

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, March 7, 2005

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Robb & Stucky stand tall in the mall

Café Miskelly, where the store serves soups, sandwiches and other goodies, gets packed to capacity on busy Fridays and Saturdays. Consumers can watch sports and other shows there on large flat-screen televisions.

PEARL, Miss. — Miskelly brothers Chip, Oscar and Tommy tell a story that at first, may sound like a stretch. Recently, a manager of their newly renovated and expanded store in this Jackson, Miss., suburb was at a local shopping mall when he overheard a mother coaxing her child in a shoe store. “If you’re good and try on these shoes,” she said, “I’ll take you to Miskelly’s.” Hard to believe? Not if you’ve seen the updated store with its lit-up old fashioned carousel, ice cream bars and jars of penny candy in a faux country store, and a half-court basketball court where kids and grownups can shoot hoops while the rest of the family shops for furniture.

A chair wall of Best Home Furnishings products adds bold color to the store’s Casual Living area.

Miskelly pumped $7 million to $8 million into the remodeling, a Connie Post Cos. design that took two years and several phases to complete. The retailer added 45,000 square feet to its main showroom for a total of about 118,0000 square feet, incorporating new features ranging from the carousel to expanded La-Z-Boy and Lane galleries to a home theater experience room with a big screen and cinema seating. Even the logo and slogan have changed to reflect a higher mission: “Miskelly Beyond Furniture.” The store has won rave reviews from suppliers at a recent preview party, and from customers, who are rewarding Miskelly with longer visits and bigger purchases. And they’re coming from farther away, too. Chip Miskelly said the delivery radius had been within about 60 miles of the store, and now has extended out 100 to 150 miles.

Miskelly expanded its youth bedroom into a 4,200-square-foot Kids World, complete with a Noah’s Ark display and a carousel that that kids and adults can ride for $1, with all proceeds going to youth-oriented charities.

The family-owned, two-store retailer, which also operates the Howard Miskelly Furniture Clearance Center nearby, said its sales were up only slightly last year to $48 million, but that the updated store is exceeding expectations this year. The brothers look for 2005 sales of $55 million to $60 million.With the renovation, the Miskellys aimed to make their store a destination. Consumers enter via a rotunda that Connie Post says, “has nothing to do with selling furniture and everything to do with selling furniture.” It’s a place where consumers can take the store in without feeling overwhelmed. One front corner of the store is devoted to Kid’s World, a big youth bedroom department. It’s here where kids race to give up their dollar bills for a ride on the antique-reproduction Caring Carousel. Proceeds go to children’s charities, and in the first months of operation, the carousel raised $20,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Miskelly strengthened its partnership with La-Z-Boy, dedicating more than 6,000 square feet to the line in a super gallery.

Other highlights include:* Directions, an area originally slated for room packages, but changed to a soft contemporary, hip urban lifestyle department. This has brought in a new customer for the retailer, whose strength has been more traditional looks. * Grand Interiors, with a façade inspired by historic antebellum homes, features step-up imports that Chip Miskelly said offer the look and quality of high-end goods “but at a price point our customers can understand.” He said a Collezione Europa canopy bed, for instance, is patterned after a $12,000 piece but sells for $1,160. * Café Miskelly, a large central dining area that serves soups, sandwich, desserts, complimentary coffee and tea and other goods. Miskelly Executive Vice President Debra Watson said the food and flat-screen televisions in the café are such a draw that it’s too small to hold the crowds on busy Fridays and Saturdays.

A shopper shoots some hoops on the store’s basketball court, which is surrounded by a mural of star athletes with Mississippi ties.

* Basketball court and sports memorabilia area, near the recliner display. Visitors can play ball on a real court surrounded by mural-sized pictures of star athletes with Mississippi ties. * Tranquility Bay, a bedding department inspired by Mediterranean spas and featuring Sealy, Simmons, Tempur-Pedic and Restonic brands. Throughout the store Miskelly has installed a mix of lifestyle and category presentations. “It’s become more of an experience,” Tommy Miskelly said, adding that consumers “are coming in the morning and not leaving until the middle of the afternoon.”

The new Lane Comfort Showcase includes a broad lineup from the manufacturer and offers custom capabilities.

A soothing fountain welcomes consumers at the entrance to Miskelly’s Tranquility Bay mattress gallery. Inside, bedding is displayed in a Mediterranean spa environment. During peak traffic periods, massage therapists are on hand offering complimentary massages.

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Miskelly's puts fun in furniture shopping

Mar 20, 2005

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