Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 25, 1995 TAG: 9502270037
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT CROWDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The company, which operates three other stores, in Durham, Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C., said its stores stock about 4,000 items and sells them for about 25 to 30 percent below its competitors.
"A lot of people describe us as the Home Depot or Lowe's of unfinished furniture," said company President Tully Fletcher. "We don't run sales, we just have everyday low prices."
Fletcher said the company buys furniture in quantities large enough to earn discounts from manufacturers.
He said that the advantage of buying unfinished furniture is that it is sometimes better quality and less expensive than finished furniture.
"Fifty or more percent of finished furniture that you buy today has particle board, plastic or vinyl components in it," Fletcher said.
Fletcher said his company looked for a Roanoke-area site for about two years and chose Plantation Road because of its convenience to customers. The store occupies a building that formerly housed the Peoples Drug Store chain's regional headquarters. The deal was negotiated by Millie Moore of Boone & Co. on behalf of the shopping center's owner, Collier, Heinz and Associates of Salt Lake City.
Mike Moore, owner of Morwood, formerly Woodmaster's, said that the Roanoke market can "definitely" handle another unfinished-furniture store and that the unfinished-furniture industry is in an upswing.
"As the economy stabilizes, people tend to come to [unfinished-furniture stores] more because they want more choices as opposed to being offered things only in certain colors and certain styles," Moore said.
Moore said he plans to open a second store, in the Crossroads Mall area, within 60 days.
by CNB