Kittle's to open new Rooms Express store in Indianapolis

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, November 13, 2012

INDIANAPOLIS — Kittle's Home Furnishings says it will open a new, larger Rooms Express store on the south side of Indianapolis before year's end.

The 11-store Top 100 company said it will lease a 35,000-square-foot former Linens 'n Things store at 7565 S. U.S. 31. It will replace a 22,000-square-foot Kittle's Rooms Express that will be converted to an outlet store, said Ferd Burgman, Kittle's vice president of marketing.

The company did not disclose its investment or sales projections for the new store.

"Kittle's Rooms Express division's motto is: ‘Great Looks, Great Prices, In-Stock, Guaranteed,' because it features stylish, affordably priced furniture guaranteed to be available for immediate delivery, or customers receive an additional discount off the sale prices," the retailer said in a release.

Key suppliers for the in-stock, quick delivery specialty store include Klaussner, Ashley, Broyhill and Vaughan-Bassett.

"Rooms Express is all about making furniture shopping faster and easier," Kittle's President and CEO Eric Easter said. He added that the convenient new location will increase the company's presence on the south side of the market.

The store, about three miles north of Kittle's full-line store in Greenwood, Ind., will employ 15 full-time workers.

No. 69 on Furniture/Today's Top 100, Kittle's did and estimated $78 million at 12 stores in Indiana and Ohio in 2011. In late March, Kittle's sold its one Ethan Allen store to Ethan Allen corporate.