Collezione Europa eyes dedicated stores
Will buy U.S. upholstery factory
Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, April 18, 2005
AT THE MARKET -- Importer Collezione Europa plans to buy a domestic upholstery factory and open a Southern California warehouse and distribution center in preparation for ultimately offering a dedicated store program to dealers.
Leonard Frankel, president and CEO of the fast-growing case goods and upholstery resource, said he is talking to several U.S. upholstery makers but declined to identify them.“I’d like to do it yesterday, which is how I like to do everything, but I want the right partner and I want the right deal,” Frankel said, adding he expects to have his own U.S. factory operating within two years.The West Coast distribution center also is probably 18 months to two years away and would start at about 250,000 square feet, said Paul Frankel, vice president and chief operating officer. It could open sooner if Colle-zione finds a suitable existing facility, but it is leaning toward building a state-of-the-art facility as it did in Claremont, N.C., in 1999.That high-cubed facility initially was 265,000 square feet and expanded to 430,000 square feet in late 2003.
One of the hottest lines in the industry now and with a reputation for knocking off upscale looks for the broader middle market, Collezione Europa is doing about $150 million in annual volume and growing about 25% a year. The company added a full line of Chinese-made upholstery to its assortment two years ago.A domestic factory would enable Collezione to expand into special order on a variety of covers. The factory also could handle final assembly of certain goods.The West Coast distribution center would take pressure off the N.C. operation, already at capacity and using an additional 200,000-square feet of temporary space for overflow. But more importantly, it would enable Collezione to more efficiently serve dealers in the West.Paul Frankel said the North Carolina warehouse project was a $20 million investment, and expects the California project would be at least that much or more.Leonard Frankel said the dedicated stores could open in the next two to three years. The program likely would start with in-store galleries that could open sooner than that.In both cases, Collezione doesn’t expect to use its existing name as the brand, but probably something catchier and in combination with the names of its dealer partners, he said. The dedicated stores would be strictly dealer-owned.“We already have interest from a lot of our customers to open a store or gallery without the support I think they need,” Frankel said, without naming names.Asked if he was concerned about creating distribution conflicts, Frankel said no, that he believes many of Collezione’s dealers will line up to be part of the program.
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