Furniture World to liquidate
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, February 4, 2007
Salem, N.H. — The owner of Furniture World will soon begin liquidating his remaining furniture and leather upholstery specialty stores.
Mark Bedrick, president and owner of the Salem, N.H.-based retailer, said going-out-of-business sales should start by the end of the month for Furniture World stores in Salem, Windham, Nashua and Manchester, N.H., and Leather Expressions stores in Manchester and Salem.
Planned Furniture Promotions is assisting with the GOB, which will run for about 60 days. Bedrick said he couldn't estimate projected sales.
Separately, Upper Marlboro, Md.-based Mattress Discounters is acquiring Bedrick's five New Hampshire Mattress World locations for an undisclosed amount and will convert them to Mattress Discounters within 60 days, he said.
Last year, Bedrick formed a strategic alliance with SB Capital Group, Kimco Realty, The Nassi Group and senior executives of Planned Furniture Promotions in a deal that involved the sale and lease-back of the retailer's properties.
The plan was to continue operating, but business conditions have remained "extremely challenging," Bedrick said.
"We were hopeful from the onset we'd be able to remerchandise, pump up sales and get back on track, but it just wasn't happening," he said.
He said his strategic alliance partners are negotiating with other furniture retailers interested in opening in the Furniture World locations, but he declined to disclose them.
As for Bedrick, 56, who started in the business 32 years ago as the owner of Nashua Furniture Barn, furniture is in his blood and he plans to remain in the industry. But he's not yet sure what form that will take. The typical bricks-and-mortar furniture stores are "not the platform of the future," he said.
"In order to be viable, I think you have to have more of an Internet presence" because the infrastructure needed to run typical retail furniture stores today is too expensive, he said.
"Logistics are changing tremendously," he said. "There are certainly more suppliers out there than ever before, and you have to sell a lot more units at lower margins to be profitable.
"When you hear this past holiday season that online retail sales increased 30% to 35%, while sales generated in brick-and-mortar stores increased by 5%, it has to say something."
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