Morris Furniture sets grand opening at five-store complex

Includes Ashley, specialty, full-line stores

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, January 6, 2011

The Better Sleep Shop, part of a Morris Furniture’s home furnishings complex in Cincinnati, features Sealy and Stearns & Foster bedding.

A bank of big-screen HDTVs makes for an impressive display in The Home Theater Store at Morris, part of the new five-store complex in a Cincinnati suburb.

CINCINNATI — Morris Furniture will grand open 72,000 square feet of home furnishings stores here Tuesday, featuring four branded storefronts joining an existing Ashley Furniture HomeStore.

The leased space, off Interstate 275 near Tri-County Mall in the Cincinnati suburb of Springdale, is an estimated $3 million investment for the Fairborn, Ohio-based Top 100 company.

With a design by Martin Roberts Design of Stamford, Conn., the complex features "five interconnected stores that provide customers with an environment that's easier to shop and which reinforces the retailer's expertise in mattresses, home theater furnishings and other categories," Roberts said in a release.

In addition to the Ashley store, the complex will feature a full-line Morris Home Furnishings, The Better Sleep Shop, The Home Theater Store at Morris and The Morris Outlet, each organized into lifestyle environments.

"These new stores combined with our current (HomeStore) will provide approximately 150,000 square feet of home furnishings display," said Larry Klaben, Morris president and CEO. He said it will be the largest display of furniture, bedding and home theater products in the region.

When the stores open next week, Morris will occupy more than half of what had been a 250,000-square-foot Roberds Grand home furnishings store, and its store count will jump from 13 to 17 showrooms in southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky.

The retailer expects some 60 industry leaders to attend the grand opening event as well as 100 community representatives.

Klaben had previously projected the new stores will do $10 million to $12 million in annual sales.

Roberts said the five-stores-in-one concept reflects a growing preference among shoppers, similar to a shopping mall environment, and he designed the complex with graphic elements and signage to help consumers easily find any product category from any point of entry.

The Better Sleep Shop features Sealy and Stearns & Foster bedding, including Sealy Posturepedic, Comfort Series Foam and Embody by Sealy.

In addition to Ashley, key furniture suppliers for the Top 100 company include Universal, Broyhill, Klaussner, Lane, Leather Italia, Stanley and Pennsylvania House.