About Furniture Stores
Furniture stores have evolved in recent years to reflect the diversity of tastes among American homeowners. IKEA's DIY sensibility appeals to college students and young homeowners looking for inexpensive furniture. Crate and Barrel has dishware, furniture and bedding designed for the stylish and sophisticated. Most readers are familiar with traditional retailers like Ashley Furniture that cover price ranges from thrifty to expensive within a single showroom. Every furniture store needs a distinct identity to create buzz in the community.
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Function
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Furniture stores work with homeowners and commercial clients to provide home decor products. The highest volume of a furniture store's business comes from consumers looking for living room sets, dining room tables and other furniture for their homes. Furniture sales people help shoppers find individual pieces to match existing furniture sets and track down duplicate pieces to replace damaged or stolen items. Interior designers, home builders and other businesses develop relationships with furniture stores to simplify the purchasing process. For example, an interior designer may choose a high-end furniture store for all of her projects to avoid multiple financing agreements and high delivery costs.
Size
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The size of a furniture store is dictated by showrooms, stock areas and external spaces for loading and unloading. The furniture store proper may take up 5,000 to 15,000 square feet depending on the layout of the showroom floor. Some stores have multiple sample rooms for kitchens, living rooms and game rooms to help shoppers before they make purchases. In addition to a sizable showroom, every furniture store needs space for surplus furniture and docks for delivery trucks. The front of a furniture store should include a loading zone near the door for immediate pickup along with 50 to 150 parking spaces. Furniture store owners look at purchasing adjacent lots to develop warehouses, additional parking and office spaces as their companies group.
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Types
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Furniture stores go beyond categories like budget and high-end products. A growing trend in big cities is consignment furniture stores which allow used and homemade furniture to be sold to buyers with limited funds. These stores offer furniture on behalf of consumers who want to get rid of furniture while taking a percentage from each sale. Another trend in suburban areas is the unfinished furniture store where homeowners can purchase bare chairs, kitchen tables and coffee tables at relatively low prices. These chairs can be painted with any color the consumer desires, allowing for greater creativity without breaking budgets.
Considerations
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Furniture store owners consider financing options, advertising and ancillary products as they establish their businesses. Most consumers need to pay for furniture sets through installment plans to take chairs and couches home immediately. A furniture store may establish an in-house financing department or work through a local lending institution to create responsible loans for all parties involved. The competition among local and chain furniture stores makes creative advertising a necessity. Many stores make funny TV commercials, print colorful ads and make the owner a recognizable character to develop consumer loyalty. As a furniture store becomes more successful, the owner can branch out into side businesses like carpet cleaning and relocation assistance to support the primary business.
Benefits
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Successful store owners can get more from owning furniture outlets than hefty profits. A furniture store owner can express his creative vision to consumers every day by designing sample rooms and displays that appeal to a variety of tastes. This creativity can also be used to help homeowners find furniture that matches carpets, drapes and paint colors to keep remodeling costs low. The main benefit of a furniture store for consumers is a reliable source of products that will ensure the comfort of loved ones for years. Consumers who stick with their favorite furniture stores rely on sales people for warranties and furniture care tips unavailable elsewhere.
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Resources
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