by Soft opening of 120,000-square-foot store is planned for the third week in June
SARASOTA, Fla. — Home News Now 125 retailer City Furniture is opening its third of four planned stores in the region here this month, a 120,000-square-foot, two-story showroom that is part of the Mall at University Town Center.
The company is moving into the location just off I-75 this week and plans a soft opening around June 18-20.
The previous two locations in the Tampa Bay market include its Plant City campus, which includes a 1.1-million-square-foot distribution center, 160,000-square-foot showroom and 25,000-square-foot Clearance Center, which opened in November 2022. Its second location opened in Clearwater in May, also featuring a 160,000-square-foot showroom.
While smaller than those two other locations, the company has designed and built the Sarasota store based on the available land it occupies. It also considered the size of the market, which company Chairman Keith Koenig described as more affluent, but smaller in population than some surrounding cities including Clearwater and Tampa.
While not technically part of the overall Tampa Metropolitan Statistical Area, Sarasota is part of the Tampa Bay media market in which the population receives access to the same radio and TV stations.
This latest store is part of a long-term expansion the company has envisioned for the region.
“Both of those have done really well,” Koenig told Home News Now of the first two stores in the DMA, or Designated Market Area. “By adding a third showroom, we have more visibility in the market. … We can increase our ad spend, and we cover the overhead of running the distribution center more efficiently.”
Construction on its fourth showroom in the Wesley Chapel area to the north of Tampa begins soon, with the store expected to open in the third quarter of 2026, Koenig said.
The company also has purchased land in Daytona, in the Orlando area, where it plans to begin construction later this year on a 120,000-square-foot store. It has three other existing stores in the same region, including an 85,000-square-foot location and 170,000-square-foot distribution center in Ocoee, a 120,000-square-foot store at the Mall at Millenia in Orlando and a 140,000-square-foot store in Altamonte Springs just north of Orlando.
It is also negotiating to develop a new store at The Villages, a fast-growing age-restricted community in the Orlando region. And it is negotiating on two sites in Jacksonville and also is searching for property to develop in South Orlando and in Melbourne.
With these projects in the works, the company is on track to achieve its vision to serve the greater Tampa region, home to nearly 3.2 million people.
Sarasota-area shoppers, in particular, will benefit from a wide mix of brands carried in City Furniture stores throughout the state. The mix includes its private-label Kevin Charles upholstery line, as well as Ashley, Magnussen, Bernhardt, Kuka, Cheers, Elements International, MotoMotion and Homelegance, to name several.
Koenig noted that the latest youth furniture selection from Homelegance is perhaps the best he has seen in the category.
“I am very proud of our merchandising team led by Kristen Carrillo who worked with Homelegance to give this a very Pottery Barn-type of look in four colors that are absolutely perfect,” Koenig said, adding that the mix of panel beds, loft beds and storage beds in the different colors is available at maybe a quarter of the price of similar products offered by the lifestyle brand. “We focus on what people can afford and what looks good. That’s a sweet spot for us.”
Key brands and lines on the bedding side include Tempur-Pedic, Simmons Beautyrest, Sealy Posturepedic and Serta, to name several.
In addition to indoor furniture, the new store also showcases outdoor furniture and an area devoted to accents called City Marketplace. Product offerings there include home accents, pillows, lamps, chandeliers, as well as wall décor, mirrors, florals and botanicals. Its KC Cafe, named after his Keith’s late brother Kevin Charles, offers wine, Starbucks beverages and light snacks.
“It’s fun to see people walking through the showroom drinking a glass of wine,” Koenig said of the cafe concept also offered at other City locations.
Koenig noted that the overall furniture retail business is not as robust as “we would like to see because housing is at a very sluggish pace.” But he said the expansion in and outside Tampa is part of a long-term commitment to the various markets it serves.
“We are in it for the long haul, and it’s going to be a great location,” he said of Sarasota. “Every one of the new stores we have opened has been the No. 1 traffic showroom in its market. So we feel pretty good about our strategy.”
