City Furniture launches $17.5 million South Florida expansion

Home Accents Today Staff -- Home Accents Today, 10/20/2011 3:25:42 PM

MIAMI, Fla. - South Florida retailer City Furniture has launched a $17.5 million expansion program to construct or renovate five stores from Miami to West Palm Beach.

City Furniture President Keith Koenig said the company will start hiring in the coming months for a total of more than 75 permanent jobs it plans to create in the region by early 2013. Reflecting the company's strength in the Dadeland, Cutler Bay, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach markets, the expansion program calls for three store openings during 2012 and will create work for several hundred construction tradespeople.

"We're confident in South Florida's future," Koenig said. "We've been acquiring properties for this expansion for the last few years, and while it may seem we're going against the economic tide, the timing is right. We're seeing increases in year-over-year sales, plus well-timed opportunities to dramatically increase sales at proven locations." Keith KoenigThe firm has captured market share in tough economic times, he added, by providing exceptional value for the price and meeting customers' needs with branded services including "Same Day Delivery 7 Days a Week."

Koenig announced plans to build marketwide on the success of his company's innovative "green" City Furniture/Ashley Furniture HomeStores superstore concept. As the Ashley Furniture HomeStores licensee in southeast and southwest Florida, City Furniture has already achieved strong results by offering the two brands in adjoining stores in Boca Raton, Stuart, Wellington, Fort Myers and Naples.

As City Furniture "reinvents" its brand to meet customers' changing needs, the firm will roll out the upscale, environmentally friendly next-generation store design it debuted in Boca Raton earlier this year, Koenig said. Each store in the expansion is being designed to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The retailer currently operates 14 City Furniture and nine Ashley Furniture HomeStore locations in Southeast and Southwest Florida. Growing "smarter and greener" as it reconfigures its network, the company has increased sales this year despite closing three stores in late 2010.