Jerome's Furniture to open ninth Southern California store

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, February 16, 2012

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. — Jerome's Furniture has acquired a former Linder's Furniture location here for its ninth Southern California store, a 41,000-square-foot unit opening in mid-April.

Lee Goodman, president and CEO of the family-owned, San Diego-based Top 100 company, said the retailer has been working on expanding here in San Bernardino County for a year, adding that the new location will build on Jerome's Inland Empire business.

Jerome's already operates two stores in neighboring Riverside County, in Corona and Murrieta, Calif.

"Our expansion is a reflection of our continued focus on listening to our customers," Goodman said in a release. Jerome's already offers same-day deliveries in Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties. "Now customers in Rancho Cucamonga will have their own neighborhood Jerome's," he said.

Jerome's acquired the property, which was a Wickes Furniture store before it was converted to Linder's, which now in the process of closing. Goodman estimated that the acquisition and improvements to the building represent a roughly $6.5 million investment for the promotional to midpriced retailer.

Goodman said he's looking for the store to do an estimated $10 million to $12 million in sales in the first 12 months. This past year, Jerome's grew total sales to $102 million, he said, up about 7% from the year before, with same-store sale up 4.5%. The company operates eight stores including a clearance center in Southern California.

He said Jerome's two existing Inland Empire stores are about a 25-minute drive from each other, and the new store will be will be another 25 minutes north of the Corona store.

"Opening up this store enables us to leverage our advertising budget," he said. "That will actually shore up and benefit those Riverside locations, so the whole pond should rise there (rather than create) any cannibalism."

The company will hire 20 to 25 sales and other employees for the new store and will bring in a core group of Jerome's veterans to help with the opening, he said.

The Rancho Cucamonga showroom will be led Ashley Hood, described by Goodman as "our best sales manager ... who has shown tremendous leadership helping us open new markets and other stores that required special efforts."