Raymour to buy Alperts
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, March 11, 2007
Liverpool, N.y. — Raymour & Flanigan is buying the inventory and real estate of Alperts Furniture Showplace of Seekonk, Mass., giving the Top 100 company entry into metro Providence and the rest of Rhode Island.
Terms were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close in mid-May.
Alperts, led by industry standout Hershel Alpert and Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer Burt Tassel, was named National Home Furnishings Assn. Retailer of the Year in 2005.
Alperts, which operates a 90,000-square-foot showroom and a 60,000-square-foot attached warehouse on 14 acres in Seekonk, was listed as a store to watch in Furniture Today's Top 100 report, with estimated 2005 sales of $44.8 million.
"Raymour & Flanigan Furniture is excited, since this step brings us closer to offering residents of Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts our furniture selection, many financing options and guaranteed three-day delivery," said Raymour President and CEO Neil Goldberg.
Goldberg said he told Alperts' employees, "We are driven to make this transition as smooth for them as for the customers they have served so well over the years. We are dedicated to enhancing the customer's shopping experience, which is a direct result of quality associates."
The store, which will be converted to Raymour & Flanigan, will be the chain's 71st unit and the first to serve Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts.
Raymour & Flanigan is ranked No. 11 on Furniture/Today's Top 100, with estimated 2005 furniture, bedding and decorative accessory sales of $655.5 million.
"We look forward to having Raymour & Flanigan Furniture carry on the reputation, service and tradition of excellence the Alpert family has created in more than 100 years of business," said Hershel Alpert, third-generation president and CEO.
Alpert, who will be 75 in April, and Tassel, 70, will leave the business and don't know yet what their future holds, said Alpert. He said the agreement with Raymour came about quickly and wasn't sought out by Alperts.
"We didn't shop this around or go looking," Alpert said. "This whole thing took place over a couple of weeks. We came to an agreement, we shook hands and that was it."
Alpert said his children and Tassel's children are grown and well-established outside the furniture industry, so they had no one in their families to succeed them.
"Our business is good and we have a lot of loyal associates," he said. "This was an opportunity, to the best of our ability, to protect 155 jobs or some portion of 155 jobs."
Alpert said he has known the Goldberg family for years and served with Neil Goldberg on the NHFA board.
"I think they are people of great integrity," he said. "They've proven they run a very good business, and I think it was the type of company I'd be pleased to have my people associated with."
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