The Furniture First Board of Directors recently approved Carol House Furniture of Maryland Heights, MO as the newest member of the national buying group. Like most Furniture First member stores, Carol House is a family-owned business that serves its community by standing behind their merchandise and offering stellar service. With their membership, the Furniture First member rolls are brought to 212 stockholders, with 453 storefronts in 47 states.
Carol House started in 1964 as a clothing and appliance store. Founder Nat Dubman expanded the product line into home furnishings, and the business has been growing ever since. The Dubman family operates two store locations in the St. Louis area – one in Valley Park and the other in Maryland Heights.
The qualifications for membership in the national buying group result in a high-quality cooperative. Furniture First only takes on stores that are full-line independents that have been in business for more than five years, though the average age of member businesses is more than 45 years. Stores are required to have good credit and meet minimum volume requirements. Most members, whether they have a single storefront or a chain of locations, serve the solid middle market of consumers.
Furniture First has moved to a new showroom at the Las Vegas Market. They are now located in A-810 in World Market Center, building A. This space is on the same floor as the showrooms of Furniture First partners Klaussner, Artisan Home, Jofran, and Bedgear. The showroom will be the venue for product display, members-only meetings and presentations, and serve as an office-away-from-home resource for members attending Market.
As the premiere mattress market, the January Las Vegas Home Furnishings Market is the ideal showcase for Furniture First’s revamped private label line, Mattress 1st. The buying group’s members, Mattress Committee, and Serta worked together to remerchandise the program for 2015. The new lineup incorporates improved technologies without giving up the high margins members have always enjoyed on the line. Highlights include performance ticking, a more body-conforming coil in the individually wrapped coil units, a new power base-friendly choice, and new gel foam options. Andrew Kauffman, Furniture First’s Vice President of Sleep Products & Markets, will be on hand to present the new line to the member retailers in showroom A-810.