Ashley buys four stores
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, April 30, 2007
Chicago — An Ashley subsidiary has acquired the four Ashley Furniture HomeStores here after the owner ran out of the cash needed to run them, the manufacturer said.
Rockledge Furniture, the subsidiary, purchased "substantially all the assets of Slovy Enterprises" and signed new lease arrangements for all stores, the company said. The purchase price wasn't disclosed.
The Slovy assets had been turned over to an "assignee" to act for the benefit of creditors, Ashley said in a statement.
Ashley Chairman Ron Wanek said Rockledge "has been and continues to explore real estate opportunities in the Chicago market" for expansion, but declined to disclose details.
"We are very excited about the opportunities in Chicago," he said.
The Slovy family, led by brothers Rick and Larry and their father Barry, operated former Top 100 store Bay Furniture of Homewood, Ill., as well as the Ashley stores here. Last year, the retailer turned over its Bay assets to an assignee/trustee, who eventually brought in Great American Group to liquidate the chain.
Shortly after the Bay stores were turned over, Larry Slovy said Bay "just got in a little over our heads," and said economic conditions had made it "tough doing business."
The Ashley stores were a separate operation and were not involved in the Bay Furniture situation, but Slovy Enterprises apparently ran into similar problems with the HomeStores.
"Slovy Enterprises, while confident in its ability to develop the Chicago market for Ashley Furniture HomeStores, found that its cost projections for fixed assets were incorrect," Ashley said. "In developing alternative plans while attempting to service the entire market, they simply ran out of money."
Wanek said Rockledge was able to transfer ownership and operation of the stores without closing them, and thus "achieved its major objective by being placed in a position where it could meet the needs of customers who had purchased Ashley product from Slovy Enterprises."
Ashley's HomeStore network has grown to about 308 stores, both licensed to independent retailers and company owned. Ashley Furniture HomeStores was No. 2 on Furniture/Today's Top 100 list last year with 219 stores and an estimated $1.6 billion in sales in 2005.
Wanek declined to disclose 2006 sales or say how many of the stores are now corporately owned.
