Robb & Stucky, FBI team up
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, March 20, 2005
Fort Myers, Fla. — Robb & Stucky will open five stores through early next year dedicated to Furniture Brands International's Henredon and Hickory Chair brands.
It's an unusual move for the retailer and its suppliers. Robb & Stucky doesn't have any dedicated stores or even in-store manufacturer's galleries, while Henredon has only a few single-brand stores and Hickory Chair has none.
The 17-store Top 100 company said it has formed an alliance with Henredon to open the new-format showrooms — to be called Robb & Stucky Interiors Henredon — starting with a mid-April opening of a 27,000-square-foot store in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables, Fla., in the former Décor House on Ponce De Leon Boulevard near Merrick Park.
It will follow with a second unit in Scottsdale, Ariz., in August and one in the Dallas suburb of North Park, Texas, in December. It plans to open a fourth in Orlando, Fla., in The Mall at Millenia in January 2006 and a fifth in the Dallas suburb of South Lake, Texas, the following month.
The stores will be 25,000 to 40,000 square feet, with the largest in North Park. Robb & Stucky is leasing the spaces and expects to invest an average of $2 million per store in product and renovations, said President Fred Berk.
He would not disclose projected sales from the stores. The retailer's total sales for its fiscal year ending in June are expected to reach $260 million, including sales from its patio stores.
Locations beyond the first five Henredon stores are in the planning stages, the company said, wihout identifying the markets. Berk said the plan isn't to go into new markets but rather to use the new format to in-fill certain markets where the retailer already has a brand presence but may not need another full-line store.
Robb & Stucky's full-line operations include a superstore of about 115,000 square feet in Scottsdale and a similar one in Plano, Texas, north of Dallas. Its closest store to the planned Coral Gables Henredon store is about 45 miles north, in Boca Raton.
While the retailer won't call the new stores dedicated showrooms, they will exclusively showcase Henredon and Hickory Chair. But there are Robb & Stucky twists: both Henredon and retailer's names will be on the storefronts and each store will have a full-service interior design studio offering a multitude of additional upscale product and services, including flooring, wall coverings, window treatments, accessories and maybe even custom cabinetry, Berk said.
In addition, the stores will not be gallerized like many dedicated stores. They'll be done up Robb & Stucky style — featuring lifestyle displays, with an emphasis on design services and "not just suite after suite," Berk said.
While Robb & Stucky avoids big single-vendor displays, its full-line stores do show vignettes of couture designer brands. The new stores will do the same, highlighting, for instance, Henredon's Ralph Lauren, Barbara Barry and David Easton collections as well as Hickory Chair's Thomas O'Brien and Mariette Himes Gomez collections and its new Alexa Hampton line to debut in High Point in April.
Berk said the move doesn't mean the retailer will reduce its Henredon and Hickory Chair displays at existing stores. Instead, it plans to expand the offering from the two manufacturers as the brands gain exposure in its markets.
"This, in our minds, is really a launching pad in many ways for an acceleration of our dedicated store program," said Steve McKee, Henredon president and CEO. "It's rather unique in that it is a situation where their brand in the markets are as important as our brand."
Robb & Stucky's dominance and commitment to the high end of home furnishings "makes us believe that dual branding is ... best for us both," McKee said.
Jay Reardon, president of Hickory Chair, called Robb & Stucky "one of the most exciting retailer concepts in the country.
"Their design business, where they mix product together in exciting ways, is going to allow us to have our multiple finishing capabilities and our custom upholstery presented in wonderful environments," he said.
Berk said Robb & Stucky is excited about the new relationship "with Furniture Brands International and its premier divisions."
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