AFW to reenter Grand Junction, Colo., market
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, January 11, 2010
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — American Furniture Warehouse will return to this market with a 150,000-square-foot warehouse and showroom, expecting to gain advantage in an underserved market.
The Englewood, Colo.-based Top 100 company paid about $9.9 million for the property, which is expected to open in the first quarter of 2011, said AFW owner and CEO Jake Jabs.
Jabs said it's too early to estimate the total investment because he is still getting construction bids for the building, which will include a 100,000-square-foot showroom and 50,000-square-foot warehouse. But he did say he looks for the store to do about $50 million in annual sales.
AFW entered this west Colorado market (about 250 miles from Denver) in the 1980s when it took over the lease on an 80,000-square-foot store previously held by a discount retailer. At the time, the market was booming thanks to a thriving oil shale industry, but it quickly soured with the collapse of oil prices.
AFW had only two years left on the lease and exited the market.
“We broke even, but I don't normally own a business that breaks even,” Jabs said.
He said that now, Grand Junction's economy has turned somewhat, thanks to a slowly recovering tourism business and strong Colorado peach crop, among other reasons. He said he believes the market is underserved.
Jabs also said the new location will complete a line of stores AFW operates along Interstate 70 between Denver and Grand Junction. It recently opened a showroom in the Vail market and has operated one for years in Glenwood Springs, which is 90 miles from Grand Junction. Jabs said AFW will be able to better serve all of these stores and customers along the route now, with a daily 53-foot truck from Denver and stocking capability in Grand Junction — something he said his competitors there lack.
In addition, Jabs said he and AFW are in the enviable position of having excess money sitting in the bank that he said is better off being invested in the business.
Jabs said American's retail formula is working, and noted that traffic and sales have spiked recently. No major changes are planned to the layout or vendor base for the Grand Junction showroom.
Key suppliers include Ashley, Lane, Lifestyle Enterprise, Jackson/Catnapper, Standard, Corinthian, Golden Oak, Affordable, Stratolounger, BK Home, Aspenhome, Emerald Home Furnishings, Trendwood, Life Style Furniture, Sealy, Simmons and Serta.
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