Boyles returns to former store

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, December 3, 2012

MOCKSVILLE, N.C. - Boyles Furniture & Rugs has moved out of the mammoth Merinos Home Furnishings complex in Mooresville, N.C. and to a location here in a move Boyles said is the first step in its larger growth strategy.
     The upscale retailer is leasing one of its original stores, a 45,000-square-foot showroom on at Farmington Road and Interstate 40, about 15 minutes west of Winston-Salem, N.C.
     The move comes after a five-month stint in the 1.1 million-square-foot Merinos, and only one month after the Hendricks family formed a new Boyles joint venture with a group of investors headed by Gene Rosenberg, co-founder Top 100 company Bobs Discount Furniture and liquidator Planned Furniture Promotions, with an eye on national expansion. The Mocksville store has soft opened and will grand open in February.
     In a release, Boyles said the move "is the first step in a larger growth strategy that will see the Boyles brand opening at locations around the country in the coming months and years."
     "We see Mocksville as a perfect opportunity to get back to the core fundamentals of what has made Boyles successful for over six decades: highly competent design staff, great values on brand names and an unmatched level of customer service," said Mark Bannon, a PFP senior vice president, who led the effort to form the partnership.
     Alex Hendricks, who along with his brother Chad Hendricks revived the Boyles name after a bankruptcy and later closing, said the retailer "is thrilled to be doing business in one of our original locations, a store that our grandfather and father built over 50 years ago."
     The Hendricks and Bannon are managing partners in the new Boyles.
     Chad Hendricks said the partners felt the Mocksville location was a better fit for Boyles than Merinos, partly because the retailer would be in a familiar space and one that's more conducive to a design center business.
     Merinos owner Michael Bay said Boyles' departure from the Merinos complex was mutual and he wished them well. He said Merinos remerchandised the 30,000-square-foot former Boyles space with high-end and upper-midpriced goods from suppliers such as Bernhardt, Henredon and Schnadig.
     The new Boyles is carrying the lines it sold at the Merinos location and is expanding the list, Chad Hendricks said. Suppliers at Merinos included Lexington Home Brands, Stanley, Universal, Four Hands, Theodore Alexander, Henredon, Ferguson Copeland, Habersham and Kingsdown.
     The 45,000-square-foot Mocksville store includes 14,000 square feet dedicated to constantly revolving, deeply discounted special buys and an 8,000-square-foot high-end rug and bedding gallery.
     The new Boyles "is planning to open several furniture retail locations in the Northeast in the near future, with such stores and the Mocksville location making up the backbone of the nationwide retail vision that the company is embarking upon," the company said in the release. The stores are expected to be in the 30,000- to 40,000- square-foot range.