Wolf Furniture launches consignment store for used goods

Plans to roll out concept to other markets, nationwide

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, September 29, 2011

For a fee, Allegheny Furniture Consignment & More will pick up goods to be consigned to the store within Wolf Furniture’s 2,000-square-mile trading area. The consumer doesn’t get charged the $100 pick-up fee until the goods sell.

Bellwood, Pa.-based Wolf Furniture wants to build a track record at the 30,000-square-foot Allegheny Furniture Consignment & More in Harrisburg, Pa., so it can expand the concept to other Wolf markets and offer it as a turnkey program to other retailers as well.

Merchandise at Allegheny Furniture Consignment & More includes furnishings from Art Deco to French provincial and from almost new to antique.

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Wolf Furniture's owners and executives have teamed with outside investors to open Allegheny Furniture Consignment & More here this Friday.

The store, which will sell gently used furniture, accessories, exercise equipment and other goods, is an idea that has been brewing at the Bellwood, Pa.-based Top 100 company for years, said Wolf President Doug Wolf.

The goal is to help both consumers and Wolf Furniture, by clearing out old furniture and making room for new product from Wolf. The retailer expects to do it profitably so that the store can later be rolled out to other Wolf markets and also to furniture retailers across the country as a turnkey program.

The 30,000-square-foot Allegheny Furniture Consignment officially opens Friday at the former high-end Classic Interiors location on Derry Street in Harrisburg, Pa.

It includes a 20,000-square-foot showroom and 10,000-square-foot warehouse. Both are already packed with used furniture as well as new bedding and a few other home furnishings items on consignment from suppliers.

Wolf hired Carney + Co. of Greensburg, Pa., to develop a website for the new venture, at www.alleghenyconsignment.com, and used Wolf business partner Tyler Net of Clearwater, Fla., to develop the software for the store.

Online and in the store, consumers can view the full inventory and see today's price as well as the dates and pricing for three scheduled markdowns - cutting the price 15% after 30 days, 40% after 60 days and 50% after 90 days. If an item doesn't sell after 120 days, it goes back to the consumer or is donated to charity.

The store shares the sales proceeds 50-50 with the consignees.

"We think the magic to this is access to loads of customers who want to buy new furnishings for their home and a large sales organization (at Wolf) to refer customers to this service" for their older goods, Wolf said.

See the Oct. 3 issue of Furniture/Today for the full story on how the concept came about and what Wolf is looking to do with it over time.