Gabberts will liquidate unprofitable Dallas outlet
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, March 27, 2005
Minneapolis — Gabberts is closing its unprofitable Furniture Outlet store in Dallas to focus on its core upscale Gabberts Furniture and Design Studio business in that market.
The four-store Top 100 company anticipates liquidating the 45,000-square-foot store on Simonton Road beginning next month and closing it in July, said CEO Jim Gabbert.
A liquidation specialist will run the sale, but Gabbert wouldn't identify the firm, noting that he is still negotiating.
Gabberts will continue to operate its full-line 100,000-square-foot showroom in Dallas two blocks south of the outlet store, its 70,000-square-foot store in Fort Worth, Texas, and its 150,000-square-foot flagship showroom in Edina, Minn.
"Our goal was to have (the outlet) be modesty profitable and we never achieved that," Gabbert said.
"Research is telling us that many of our current outlet customers are also customers of our retail showrooms," he said. "That means we're actually transferring merchandise from our showrooms to a second location only to have it bought by essentially the same customer. That doesn't make sense from a business or customer standpoint."
Gabberts, which opened the outlet in 1994, was doing about $9 million in annual sales there, Gabbert said. He said the retailer plans to generate a minimum of $1.7 million from the liquidation sale, and "we hope to do significantly more than that."
Suppliers represented in the liquidation will include brands Gabberts sold only at the outlet as well as regular showroom sources with merchandise that is distressed or has been dropped from the lineup. Companies include Hooker, Mirador, Stickley and Century.
Gabbert emphasized the company will continue to sell the lines at its other stores.
An outlet-like area called Gabberts Odds & Ends will be incorporated into the remaining Dallas store, and "we expect it to be well received," he said, noting that a 2,500-square-foot Odds & Ends department has been successful in Minnesota.
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