Ashley stores set for NY
Jennifer Convertibles to open three in area
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, November 5, 2006
Woodbury, N.Y. — Jennifer Convertibles said it will open three Ashley Furniture HomeStores in New York, leveraging its longtime customer relationship with Ashley to become part of the fastest-growing retail furniture concept in the nation.
The publicly held sofa-sleeper and leather upholstery specialty retailer said it will open metro New York's first HomeStore within six months and the other two within 18 months.
Asked if this is a test for further expansion with the HomeStore concept, Jennifer CEO Harley Greenfield said, "We'd like to believe that's the case. We'd like to believe if this is successful we'd keep opening stores."
He said Jennifer's focus is on metro New York, but couldn't estimate how many HomeStores the market could support. He would not disclose the company's investment or projected sales from the Ashley stores, or identify the first locations, noting that leases have yet to be signed.
"We believe this is an extraordinary opportunity for Jennifer," he said. "We should be able to capitalize on our back office infrastructure and our advertising expertise in our core market."
The licensed HomeStores will be about 10 times the size of a typical Jennifer store, or at least 30,000 square feet. That should "allow us to significantly grow our top line and add to profitability in a relatively short time," Greenfield said.
Jennifer has been an Ashley customer for more than 15 years, but he said it's not a primary line, so there probably won't be any major assortment changes at Jennifer stores nearby.
He said Jennifer had been asking for the HomeStore license in New York for six years. He called the new relationship "an extraordinary opportunity" to use its experience in a successful retail brand, without interfering with expansion plans or operations of the Jennifer stores.
Ashley Chairman Ron Wanek noted that his company has done business with Jennifer for years and "we're proud to have them as Ashley HomeStores" operators.
Wanek said the Ashley product offering is broad and includes the Signature Design line for non-HomeStores retailers, so he doesn't expect any major distribution issues in the market.
A Top 100 company, Jennifer Convertibles is the owner and licensor of 190 stores, including 16 Jennifer Leather stores. Twenty-four units are licensed, including 23 to a related private company.
Ranked No. 2 on Furniture/Today's survey of the Top 100 U.S. Furniture Stores, the Ashley Furniture HomeStores network was the fastest-growing U.S. furniture store chain last year. It ended the year with 219 stores and an estimated $1.58 billion in sales. There are 273 HomeStores today and Wanek has estimated that the network will grow to about 300 this year.
"When you look at the kind of growth Ashley has had, it's certainly the type of brand that if you have an opportunity to tag along with, you want to tag along," Greenfield said. "There's nothing like being attached to a winner."
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