Nader's La Popular to open third store

 

Retailer expanding in Southern California

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, March 23, 2010

The 10,000-square-foot showroom will soft-open in a former lighting store on Pacific Coast Highway and grand-open a month later, said George Nader, vice president and co-owner of the Gardena, Calif.-based retailer with three of his brothers.

Nader's purchased the property in the Signal Hill area of Long Beach for an undisclosed amount. While the showroom will be smaller than its main store in Gardena, it's in a high-visibility area with more than 45,000 vehicles passing every day, Nader said. He also said the building is perfect for the store, with windows across the entire front and down the sides.

The company declined to disclose sales or sales projections for the new store.

"We picked up a very good deal and we wanted to be in the Long Beach area for some time, so this is an opportunity for us," said Chuck Nader, president of the promotional to midpriced stores founded by his father in 1956.

"We're looking to expand," added George Nader. "We took the downturn as a chance to firm up (our operations). We did that, and now we're ready to move forward. The next generation is coming up in the business, and we're now ready to expand, but we'll do it gradually."

Among other moves, Nader's is looking to replace its existing 30,000-square-foot warehouse in Carson, Calif. Its lease there is expiring soon, and the retailer wants to expand into a facility that is 40,000 to 60,000 square feet, with higher ceilings (at least 25 feet, compared with 18 feet in the existing warehouse).

George Nader said the company expects to have a new warehouse in the next few months and will carve out 5,000 to 10,000 square feet for a clearance center. Nader's also is evaluating opportunities for a fourth full-line store that could open this year.

In Long Beach, Nader's La Popular will experiment with a few more upscale looks, but price points will remain in the promotional to middle range. Key suppliers include Fairmont Designs, AICO, Lifestyle Enterprise, Lee Furniture, New Classic, Ashley, Stratford, Coaster, Acme, Simmons and Sealy.

While the company would disclose sales, Chuck Nader said business conditions remain tough, although he has seen some improvement in the past six weeks or so.