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New Levin Furniture store a bit different

Pennsylvania retailer tweaks its design

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, December 2, 2009

Levin private label Luxe Home upholstery Clayton Marcus

Levin’s private label Luxe Home upholstery collection, produced by Clayton Marcus, is shown under a Gypsy Faire tent, along with the Eclectic Home collection of eco-friendly products from Four Hands.

WEXFORD, Pa. — Levin Furniture has opened a 53,000-square-foot store in Wexford Plaza here, replacing a smaller store in greater Pittsburgh with somewhat of a new design for the Top 100 company.
The store on Perry Highway opened in October with a mix of midpriced goods that includes sustainable home furnishings, and private label and name brand furniture.
While larger than the 40,000-square-foot store it replaces, the new showroom is smaller that the 70,000- to 75,000-square-foot footprint the retailer is using with some of its newest stores, said Tom Zwierzelewski, director of store design and merchandising.
So Levin opened up the space in Wexford, eliminating walls and changing displays to show its assortment of some 115 living room settings, more than 40 master bedrooms, 12 youth groups and about 36 dining and casual dining groups.
The store is laid out both by style and product category. Consumers with more traditional and transitional leanings would gravitate to the left of the entrance, while the contemporary, leather and motion are to the right.

Levin Furniture’s new 53,000-square-foot showroom in the northern Pittsburgh suburb of Wexford, Pa., replaces a 40,000-square-foot store in the community.

"We were able to show 74,000 square feet of showroom in 53,000 square feet," Zwierzelewski said.
He said the early consumer response has "been phenomenal. Our volume has been great - with a lot of traffic. It's really exceeded our expectations."
Levin Chief Financial Officer Basil Hawanchak wouldn't disclose sales projections, noting that the economic climate and consumer caution make forecasting difficult. "With that said, a 20% to 30% gain in sales (from the store it replaces) should be achievable," he said.
Smithton, Pa.-based Levin is No. 41 on Furniture/Today's Top 100 with estimated furniture, bedding and accessories sales last year of $149.9 million at a dozen stores in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
One feature in Wexford is Eclectic Home by Levin's, a collection of eco-friendly furniture and accents from around the world, shown under a 20-foot Gypsy Faire tent. Product includes the Congo bedroom by Four Hands, and accessories and other goods in stone, wood, stainless steel, cast aluminum, bamboo and other renewable, eco-friendly resources.

Jonathan Louis Levin Dimplex Legacy Classic 2

A hot-selling Jonathan Louis living room group with cherry and chocolate accents is displayed in the Levin store near Dimplex electric fireplaces and Legacy Classic case goods.

A separate area includes lifestyle settings of bedroom, dining and living rooms with wood groups from Pennsylvania House and Universal's Better Homes and Gardens, plus additional settings called Today's Classics and Modern Outlook.
The store also has a solid-wood gallery, a leather gallery with goods from Natuzzi and other sources, and a sleep center with bedding by Stearns & Foster, Tempur-Pedic and Sealy, including Sealy's Natural Origins collection of latex bedding with silk and wool fibers and woven bamboo covers.
In the design center, consumers can choose from hundreds of fabric and frame options from sources that include Rowe, Broyhill, Jonathan Louis and England, and private-label collections Classic Home by Levin's (from Craftmaster) and the Luxe Collection by Levin's, produced by Clayton Marcus.

This leather sectional with European styling is one of seven frames from Violino, a new Italian leather upholstery source for Levin, that are doing well at the new store.

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New Levin store a bit different

Nov 30, 2009

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