Big retailers make stir in Big Apple
Carole Sloan, Senior contributing editor -- Furniture Today, July 6, 2008
New York has long been considered by many in our industry as underserved in terms of major furniture retailing.
Well, events in recent months are beginning to change all that.
Just this year, Liverpool, N.Y.-based Raymour & Flanigan — almost sotto voce — launched three stores in Manhattan and created attention with lots of TV advertising.
And last month, Swedish retailer Ikea finally came to the city with a big store across the East River from Manhattan on the edge of Brooklyn. From the crowds that gathered for the opening, it seems that the company's promotional message was heard far and wide.
A week or so later, Danbury, Conn.-based Ethan Allen launched a prototype design center — a concept that had been germinating elsewhere, and now is ready to burst forth on a national platform — at a Manhattan site just across from Bloomingdale's flagship store.
Granted, Ethan Allen closed two stores in Manhattan to coincide with this design center's opening, and last year shuttered another. But management anticipates this new concept will set the store apart.
Though at first blush it might appear to be a response to all the newcomers, Bloomingdale's redo of its major fifth floor furniture department at its 59th Street flagship is part of a top to bottom redo of the entire store — planned long before other furniture retailers defined their plans. And if nothing else attracts, the uncovering of the extraordinary fifth floor windows will certainly be a conversation piece.
And yes, we've lost a few biggies — including failed Top 100 chains Domain and Bombay, as well as a few smaller independents that closed for a variety of reasons in recent years.
Each of the newbies will affect the existing retailing community. But with new blood, new formats and new approaches, New York may emerge as a leader in furniture retailing.
-
Former flagship Robb & Stucky unit reopens
Jan 18, 2012 -
Interiors opens second store in Harrisburg, Pa.
Nov 20, 2009 -
I.O. Metro signs endorsement deal with Vern Yip
Jan 19, 2011 -
High Point Market sets educational seminars
Mar 9, 2010 -
Educational seminars set for market
Mar 25, 2007
Merinos Home Furnishings opening display room, Boyles addition
HOM Furniture adds flooring to six Twin Cities stores
‘Mega vessels' likely to boost capacity, stabilize freight rates
Ernest Warsaw, founder of Sheffield Corp., dies at 91
21 companies from Turkey, Taiwan and China to exhibit at Showtime
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
