Gardner-White Furniture opens its largest store

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, October 9, 2012

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Gardner-White Furniture has opened its new 455,000-square-foot flagship store, distribution center and corporate office here.

The complex on North Atlantic Boulevard includes a 90,000-square-foot store and warehouse outlet - the Detroit-area Top 100 company's largest showroom, Gardner-White President Steve Tronstein said in a release. He said the move will create more than 200 new jobs and will "expand our footprint in metro Detroit so that we can better serve our customers."

"We have great confidence in the future of southeast Michigan and its support for Gardner-White," he said. "This is why we are making significant investments in the region by expanding to new communities."

The company previously told Furniture/Today that the facility represents a $15 million investment and includes a 350,000-square-foot distribution center with 30-foot ceilings that give the company about four times the capacity of its previous warehouse.

To celebrate, the retailer will host a Grand Opening House Party Oct. 20-21, with hourly prize drawings for Gardner-White gift cards ranging from $100 to $1,000, tickets to University of Michigan and Michigan State football games, and a chance to win a $10,000 Gardner-White shopping spree.

The event also will include performances by the local Stoney Creek and Avondale high school bands and ensembles. Each school will receive a $1,000 donation from the retailer.

Gardner-White, which is celebrating 100 years in business this year, operates eight full-line stores and the outlet in addition to two test stores within Best Buy stores, which opened in September.