Furniture First adds 5 retailers, 9 stores to membership

MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — Furniture First buying group has added five retailers, with nine stores to its membership, including two members who are returning to the group.

Combined, the new members represent more than $40 million in annual sales. They bring Furniture First’s membership up to 235 companies with 520 stores. 

Toms Price Home, with five stores in the Chicagoland area, is among the new members. Founded in 1908 Toms is the oldest furniture retailer in metro Chicago and today is run by the founder’s great-grandson, Scott Price.

Also joining is Phelan’s of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Coffman’s Home Furnishings and Appliances in Jackson, Tenn. Established in 1938, Phelan’s has been recognized for its community involvement and high-quality service, according to a release. Its staff of interior designers works with both residential and commercial clients.

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Coffman’s, which opened its doors more than 60 years ago, is run by the third generation of the family, and works to maintain the values that it was founded on, serving the community and treating their customers as the friends and neighbors that they are,” Furniture First said.

Two of the five new members, Rettig Furniture in Findlay, Ohio, and Deb Bee in Coralville, Iowa, are returning Furniture First members. Both stores belonged to the group before they bought franchise licenses from Art Van Furniture, the former Warren, Mich.-based Top 100 company that was acquired by private equity and later filed for bankruptcy in March, then sold off and closed all corporate-owned locations. With the bankruptcy of Art Van, each store made the decision to re-establish their independent retail identities.

Rettig Furniture was established by the Rettig family in 1981; the reestablished store held a ribbon cutting on October 14th. Deb Bee is a new entity, but the owner previously operated Simpson Furniture which was founded in 1946; the retail store is still in the rebranding process.

“It’s really exciting to have retailers join us as they are making a change in their business,” said Andrew Kauffman, Furniture First CEO. “They know that change is necessary for survival — that’s why they have been around for decades and decades. As a group, these five operations are brining 367 years of retail knowledge to our membership.”

Kauffman also praised the work of the group’s Lark Shirley-Stevens, Amanda Daubert and the membership committee for their work on Furniture First’s membership initiative. “They are producing great results,” he said. 

Furniture First is a cooperative national home furnishings and mattress buying group serving full line independent retailers with sales over $2 million. Collectively, the group sells $3 billion at retail. 

For more information on membership, please visit https://furniturefirst.coop/  or call 800-411-3477.

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