Kimbrell’s formally opened its 50th furniture store last week in the country’s home furnishings capital. (Photo by Furniture Today)
The home furnishings member opens its 50th store … in High Point
By Alan Wolf, YSN
For BrandSource member Kimbrell’s Furniture, last week’s grand opening of its newest store was doubly poignant.
For one thing, the new 20,000-square-foot showroom represents the 50th location for the 108-year-old home furnishings icon. For another, the store is located in High Point, N.C., home to the all-important High Point Furniture Market, headquarters for America’s home furnishings industry.
“Realistically, you think, it’s the furniture capital, so why wouldn’t you be there?” asked Assistant VP and Store Operations Director Gina Powers, during a pre-opening walkthrough with Furniture Today. “It was an absolute amazing opportunity for us to continue to grow into a new market.”
The showroom, she said in an earlier interview, occupies the site of a former high-end grocery store whose spare-no-expense presentation and easily removable shelving made it “the type of business you want to follow behind.” There’s also an extra 4,000 square feet set aside for product storage, while any additional inventory needs will be met by a Kimbrell’s distribution center located an hour away in Charlotte.
The company was launched in Columbia, S.C., in 1915 by three partners — W. Earle Kimbrell, his uncle Walter and Kimbrell’s boss, furniture store owner H.A. Taylor — who each threw in $1,000. Today, by following the conservative but growth-oriented policies of its founders, the business blankets the Carolinas with competitively-priced products for every room and in every style, earning it a perch on Furniture Today’s Top 100 ranking of home furnishings retailers.
“Kimbrell’s has always had a vision of growth,” Powers told the publication. “We are continuously looking for opportunities in markets that fit our business plan.”
As for High Point, “We think this will be one of our top performing stores,” she said.
Hat tip to Furniture Today.
