Room & Board to open first Los Angeles-area store
Retailer also looking at other metro areas
Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, May 23, 2008
CULVER CITY, Ca. — Top 100 company Room & Board has leased 40,000 square feet of space for a store here, its second in southern California and first and probably the only one for the Los Angeles area.
Mark Miller, chief financial officer for the nine-store Minneapolis-based chain, confirmed that the retailer plans to open a two-level showroom in the Plaza at Culver Studios on Culver Boulevard, a new mixed-use development expected to break ground next month. The store will probably open in early 2010, he said.
He said the retailer of upscale, classic contemporary home furnishings has built a customer base in many markets through its phone and online business and is seeking locations for stores in several metro areas, including Washington, D.C.; Boston; Philadelphia; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; Austin, Texas; Miami; Ann Arbor, Mich., and Atlanta.
Miller said the retailer is likely to open one store before Culver City, but could not predict where. He said the focus is on Washington, Seattle and Boston.
Room & Board, led by John Gabbert, operates nine stores — two in Minneapolis/St. Paul, three in the Chicago area and one each in Denver, New York, San Francisco and Santa Ana, Calif.
Room & Board is one of the few Top 100 companies posting strong growth last year, increasing its sales more than 10% to $230 million, according to Furniture/Today estimates.
In Culver City, Room & Board is leasing space, an unusual move for the retailer, which prefers to own its facilities and rehab existing buildings — one of the reasons its search for new stores is usually a difficult one, Miller said. It will also seek a Los-Angeles-area location for a distribution center to serve the new store.
Miller said the retailer’s plans to move into several new markets does not represent a change in strategy for the company, which looks to open about one new store a year.
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