Baer's to acquire Carls Furniture store in Kendall, Fla.
Carls plans to focus on larger footprints
Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, March 24, 2011
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. — High-end furniture retailer Baer's plans to expand its presence in the Miami area with the acquisition of Carls Furniture's 38,000-square-foot store in Kendall, Fla.
Baer's has a contract to buy the showroom on SW 100th Street for an undisclosed amount, said Jerry Baer, senior vice president of sales for the Top 100 company. If all goes as planned, the store will be Baer's 15th Florida showroom and could open in late summer after a major remodeling.
"This gives us a more prominent presence in Dade County and what will be a beautiful location," Baer said, adding that the retailer's existing area store is leased and isn't quite up to Baer's standards.
He declined to disclose the company's investment or projected sales at the planned new store.
Carls - also a Top 100 company, but in the middle to upper-middle price range - is in the process of repositioning to what President Jeff Baker called its larger, next generation showrooms. The flagship showroom in Coconut Creek, Fla., and a store in North Miami are each about 90,000 square feet, including 20,000-square-foot outlets, and a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., store is about 60,000 square feet.
Baker said the bigger stores allow Carl's to display a larger selection of furniture.
"Like other big boxes in other industries, it is more efficient to have fewer bigger stores," he said. "This allows us to sell cheaper than our competitors with smaller stores."
Earlier this year, Carls closed store in North Palm Beach and Stuart Fla.
In addition, Atlanta-based Havertys will be leasing a 48,000-square-foot Carls store in Baca Raton, Fla., strengthening its position in South Florida with a store it expect to open by Labor Day. Baker said customers of that closing location are only a few miles from Carls' larger Coconut Creek showroom.
Including an outlet in Pompano Beach, Fla., and a smaller store in west Fort Lauderdale, Carls will have five South Florida showrooms after the deals with Havertys and Baer's.
Baker, who said business has improved slightly since November, said his company is considering opening another large store either in a new South Florida market or one that it has recently vacated. He said it was too early to disclose the timing or location because the company is in the negotiation process, but said it could happen this year.
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Baer's to buy Carls store
Apr 6, 2011
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