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Linder's likes La Quinta

September 21, 2006
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(Furniture/Today Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) La Quinta, Calif. Top 100 company Linder's Furniture has opened its second Rooms Express store here, looking to expand its market share in a tough business climate.

Linder's hired Connie Post Cos. to design a difficult project a 35,000-square-foot space that originally was intended to be an upscale movie theater. High ceilings, sloped floors and other structural issues posed challenges, "but Connie Post did a great job and it turned out fantastic," said Eric Foucrier, Linder's president, adding the result appeals to female consumers. Post described the format as open.



"The showroom was designed to utilize the high vertical spaces with large architectural elements and oversized graphics," she said.

Features in the midpriced room package store include two home theater rooms with marquee entrances like a movie theater to display cinema seating, flat-panel TVs and wall units.

(At the company's Linder's stores in Orange County, the TV delivery service includes hanging the big screens on the wall for free. Foucrier said the unusual perk has been a big boost to business, and is something Rooms Express will offer.)

A Legacy Showcase gallery of "designer furniture for less," with free home design consultation, is another new feature for Rooms Express. Sofas in the showcase start at $999 rather than the $399 typical starting point for the rest of the store.

Key suppliers to the new store include Universal, Legacy Classic, Modus, Wynwood, Berkline/ BenchCraft; Guildcraft of California, Lifestyle Enterprise and Futura/Superb Leather. Key bedding suppliers are Sealy and Tempur-Pedic, with their offerings shown in an outdoor garden-like setting with fountains and trellis-style architecture.

Foucrier said the store is Linder's largest improvement project to date at an investment of more than $1 million.

And the company is spending more money to launch the new store with a bang. At the Sept. 14 grand opening, it kicked off a giveaway of 50 rooms of furniture in 50 days. At more than $100,000 in goods, it's one of the biggest furniture giveaways in industry history, Foucrier said.

Garden Grove, Calif.-based Linder's acquired the two-store Legacy Home Furnishings/ Rooms Express from the Belinsky family this summer in a deal that expanded Linder's reach beyond Los Angeles east into the Coachella Valley.

Foucrier said Legacy and Rooms Express combined control the second-largest market share in the area after Mathis Bros.

The new store is one of two that Linder's is adding this month. It's also opening a 25,000-square-foot Linder's in Murrieta, Calif., this Thursday.

Foucrier wouldn't give projected sales for the new stores, but said they should help push the company's furniture, bedding and accessory sales past $100 million in 2007. Linder's was a newcomer to the Top 100 this year with estimated furniture, bedding and accessory sales of $74 million in 2005.

Like many retailers, Linder's has seen business slow down this year. Same-store sales have declined, although not in double- digit figures like Foucrier said he's heard about from others in the industry.

La Quinta, home of the new Rooms Express, is one of the fastest-growing communities in California, he said, adding, "We couldn't think of a better location for our new store."

Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. All Rights Reserved.


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