RoomPlace to open store in Rockford, Ill.
Will occupy former Leath Furniture unit
Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, October 1, 2007
ROCKFORD, Ill. — The RoomPlace at Harlem Furniture will open its 20th store in this northern Illinois city in November.
Bruce Berman, CEO of the Lombard, Ill.-based Top 100 company said the decision to open here in this market, referred to as “The Forest City,” was easy.
“Right now, the city is thriving as a business hub, cultural center and entertainment destination for the region,” he said. “The area is on the rise and we want to be part of that change … by providing its people with smart home designs that will enhance their quality of life.”
The 30,000-square-foot stand-alone store on East State Street is a former Leath unit, believed to be one of that retailer’s best stores, Berman said. The company moved on the opportunity to take the space when Leath closed, but had been looking at the market for some time, he added.
“We’ve always seen it as one of the next markets beyond Chicago with a population sufficient for us to achieve our sales goals,” Berman said.
The company would not disclose its investment or sales projections for the store.
Berman said business has been challenging, with RoomPlace tracking a slight increase in total sales but relatively flat same-store sales.
Like its other locations in Chicagoland and Indiana, the midpriced RoomPlace will offer complete room packages, including accessories, with a business philosophy and marketing tag of “The more you buy, the more you save.”
Key suppliers to the retailer include Lifestyle Enterprise, New Generations, Standard, Steve Silver and Simmons.
The RoomPlace, ranked No. 43 on Furniture/Today’s Top 100 U.S. Furniture Stores report with estimated sales of $191.2 million last year, plans to open its first two stores in Indianapolis in early 2008. That will push its store count to 22.
As in Mishawaka, Ind. — the company’s first store outside greater Chicago — and the Indianapolis units, the Rockford store will open as The RoomPlace, dropping the “at Harlem Furniture” title used in Chicago. The Harlem name carries more weight in Chicago, where the company got its start in 1912.
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