Wickes leaving Twin Cities
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, May 21, 2007
Wheeling, Ill. — Wickes Furniture is pulling out of Minneapolis-St. Paul.
The Top 100 chain will close all five of its Minnesota stores and its Brooklyn Center, Minn., distribution center as part of a long-range strategy to focus resources in high-growth markets such as Southern California, Chicago, Portland, Ore., and Las Vegas, the retailer said.
Wickes plans to open 10 new stores in those markets this year. It's already opened four — in Corona and Beaumont, Calif., Lake Zurich, Ill., and the just-opened new flagship store on Chicago's Elston Avenue, Wickes' first downtown location in the market. Later this year it will open its first two or three stores in Las Vegas, and two more stores each are planned for Chicago and Portland.
Wickes has "always done OK (in Minneapolis) but not great," said CEO John Disa. "As we look at our long-range plan, you try to maximize the value of resources and investment, and our performance in other markets was much stronger. This (move) helps us on a lot of fronts."
In a news release, he said Wickes is "proud to have served the Minnesota market for the past 36 years."
The Minnesota stores will remain open through September. A closeout clearance sale began May 17 and is being run by Hilco Merchant Resources. Disa wouldn't disclose the expected revenue from the sales or the annual sales volume of the five Minnesota stores.
Wickes, owned by Sun Capital Partners, has 41 stores in greater Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Portland, and had an estimated $450 million in sales last year. Like many retailers across the country Disa said Wickes has found business to date this year to be "challenging."
