New Ashley Store in Saginaw among the nation’s largest
By Andy Kriege, YSN
BrandSource member Denno’s Furniture & Mattress is in expansion mode.
The Saginaw, Mich.-based merchant recently added a second showroom in town — a combination Ashley Store and Outlet whose collective 75,000 square feet make it one of the largest Ashley locations in the country.
Denno’s has been proudly serving Mid-Michigan for over 60 year and three generations, and is a longtime member of BrandSource’s Michigan region, where second-generation owner Terry Denno has long served on the board. The original showroom, located about a mile away from the new superstore, also featured Ashley products. “They [Ashley] proved to be such a great partner, we decided to expand to a standalone store under the Ashley banner,” said Denno, whose father started the business in 1959.
The new location is operated by a third generation of furniture fanatics: Terry’s daughter, Alison Denno-Hotchkiss, and husband Ryan Hotchkiss, who became proprietors in the company five years ago.
The standalone Ashley store is located just off an expressway in a former OfficeMax-turned-Burlington Coat Factory. It took the family about 18 months to find the real estate, sign a lease and design and plan the store, but business has been bustling since its official grand opening in May. “Moving the Ashley store to an A-plus location has increased the door swings immensely,” Denno said.
“Guests really love the new Ashley 7.0 concept,” a design approach that features more spacious layouts and fewer accessories to better emphasize the furniture, Denno said. The owners also redesigned their mattress gallery.
Denno praised Ashley for providing outstanding support throughout the process. “They designed and laid out the displays, helped with the buildout and have stepped up advertising and marketing to bring the people through the door,” he said. “It takes a heck of a lot more product and personnel to operate a business this size.”
Fortunately, there have been relatively few hiccups since the store opened. “Just the expected growing pains from moving to a location twice the size of our primary store,” Denno said. “We are really excited for the future.”
BrandSource, a unit of YSN publisher AVB Inc., is a nationwide buying group for independent appliance, furniture, mattress and CE dealers.
