Homemakers hits home run with renovation
Furniture store is largest in Iowa
Ray Allegrezza -- Furniture Today, August 10, 2009
URBANDALE, Iowa — While the grand opening of the renovated Homemakers Furniture here two weeks ago officially capped a project that started in 2007, it also marked the culmination of decades-long dream by the Merschman family.
 Enjoying their first look at the newly renovated Homemakers store are Nebraska Furniture Mart’s Irv Blumkin, left, Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway and Furniture Today’s Ray Allegrezza. |
 The Homemakers Furniture management team of Alan, left, Roger, Dave and Ina Merschman proudly pose in the entrance to their just-renovated showroom. |
“Thirty-five years ago when this business was launched by my parents, the family set a lofty goal of becoming the largest furniture store in Iowa,” said Homemakers President Dave Merschman. “Through the dedication and hard work of everyone on our team, we've done it.”
Today, the store occupies a massive 400,000-square-foot building — a former Parker Bros. factory that once turned out popular board games like Monopoly — and boasts some 215,000 square feet of selling space and more than 300 employees.
In addition to Dave Mersch-man, the management team includes his mother, Ina, and his brothers Alan, who is vice president, and Roger, who is operations manager.
 One of the store’s compelling visual elements is this interior roof that welcomes shoppers home. |
 As they walk into Homemakers, shoppers are greeted by a massive stone fireplace and scores of intriguing displays. |
 A large and comprehensive rug department has been added to the newly renovated store. The department features more than 1,100 rugs on display in sizes ranging from 2 by 3 feet to 10 by 14 feet, with larger sizes available by special order. |
 With some 215,000 square feet of selling space, Homemakers does things on a grand scale. The store’s Sleep Shop, which offers shoppers a selection of more than 65 mattress sets, is no exception. |
 Homemakers Furniture has significantly boosted the selling space and attention given to accessories. |
 Bruce Cohenour, Paul Tom, Irv Blumkin, Kurt Darrow, Jena Hall and Bill Colegrove |
Observers agree that it was the Merschmans' commitment to excellence that resulted in its acquisition in 2000 by retailer Nebraska Furniture Mart, a Berkshire Hathaway company.
Although Homemakers' Urbandale location has expanded before — it added 40,000 square feet to the showroom, as well as renovating the warehouse in 1998 — the family knew that with this latest project, it wanted to take the business to the next level.
In June of 2007, with the help of Design Forum, a Dayton, Ohio-based design firm, Homemakers embarked on a two-year, four-phase project that would cost in excess of $30 million, but would culminate in an energy-efficient, state-of-the-art retail showcase.
“This project was massive and resulted in every square foot of this building being either remodeled or redesigned,” Dave Merschman said.
In addition to visual design elements, including an impressive 50-foot-tall grand entrance, the renovation also focused on the warehouse and related back-room functions.
“While our goal was to present our customers with a beautiful store, we are not just here to sell furniture; we have to efficiently get it to the customer's home. So, the systems and upgrades we have in the back room, although not readily visible to the customer, are to us as beautiful as the selling area of the store,” Merschman said.
An expanded 170,000-square-foot distribution center has 50% more storage capacity and has sped up customer service. The store also added 80% more customer parking spaces. A significantly expanded pick-up department also was an important step.
“We deliver about half of everything we sell. Our customers pick up the other half,” Merschman said.
To keep things moving, the store has installed timing devices under every customer pick-up parking space. “The second that vehicle pulls in, that timer starts. We are that serious about our metrics and our customer service,” he said. From memory, he recalled, “The day after Thanksgiving, we had 700 customer pick-ups who spent an average wait time of 6.9 minutes.”
In addition, the store is energy efficient. While it is brightly lit by scores of spotlights, none of them use bulbs greater than 70 watts. And all of the lamps on the store's floor were switched from 40-watt bulbs to 14-watt compact fluorescent bulbs.
“When you have upwards of 1,000 lamps at 14 watts per lamp per hour, that alone is a saving in energy costs of $3,000 a year,” Merschman said.
Homemakers also has added new departments for area rugs, lamps and accessories, plus a clearance center.
In keeping with the store's huge footprint, the new departments make larger-than-life statements. The lamp gallery, for example, has more than 260 products on display in a wide variety of styles. The rug gallery offers shoppers a choice of some 1,100 rugs that range in size from 2 by 3 feet to 10 by 14 feet.
Homemaker's existing departments are equally comprehensive. The master bedroom area, for example, floors more than 100 groups, while the sleep shop offers more than 65 mattress sets and the upholstery area features in excess of 115 groups in fabric and upwards of 70 in leather area.
Nebraska Furniture Mart's President Ron Blumkin summed up the efforts of the Homemakers project this way: “This is a great day for our partners. Homemakers has set a new standard with this store. This is the new benchmark for furniture retailing.”
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