Clive Daniel sets sights on Florida's East Coast

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, May 7, 2012

BloxNAPLES, Fla. - Clive Daniel Home, led by the original Robb & Stucky's Clive and Daniel Lubner, is eying a move to the East Coast of Florida after a strong first six months of business at its initial store here.
     The upscale retailer has hired Blandine Blox as East Coast director of business development and interior design to lead an eventual team of designers as well as the effort to secure the company's first location there. A resident of Boca Raton, Fla., Blox previously worked as a designer for the Lubners at the former Robb & Stucky showroom in Boca.
     "We're going to be looking for good real estate opportunities to purchase or lease ... from Fort Lauderdale all the way up to Jupiter," said Daniel Lubner, President and CEO.
     The company is looking for a location similar in size and scope to the 85,000-squarefoot former RoD. Lubnerbb & Stucky location (with a 65,000-squarefoot showroom) the retailer reopened as Clive Daniel in Naples in November. Ideally, the second store would open sometime from this fall to the first quarter of next year, he said.
     Lubner said Clive Daniel also is continuing to look for other expansion opportunities, including in Sarasota, Fla., where it had a strong business as Robb & Stucky, and the Orlando, Fla., area, a rebounding market where Clive Daniel operates a small design studio.
     Fort Myers, Fla.-based Robb & Stucky filed for bankruptcy early last year and liquidated. Samson Holding CEO Samuel Kuo and his family subsequently acquired the rights to the Robb & Stucky name and other intellectual assets. They have since reopened as Robb & Stucky International at the former Fort Myers flagship store and have acquired land for second store in Naples.