The Furniture First Board of Directors recently approved two retailers as new members of the national buying group: Stacy Furniture & Design of Grapevine, TX and Bowen Town & Country Furniture of Winston-Salem, NC. Like most Furniture First member stores, these are family-owned businesses that serve their community by standing behind their merchandise and offering stellar service. With their membership, the Furniture First membership rolls are brought to 212 stockholders, with 450 storefronts in 47 states.
Stacy Furniture & Design was founded in 1975 as a wholesale furniture business, and today it operates four retail locations in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
Bowen Town & Country Furniture has been in business since 1956, and takes pride in supporting many manufacturers of American-made products.
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. Since the buying group is geographically exclusive by representation, members are rarely in direct competition with each other, adding to the overall willingness to share and collaborate.
Furniture First will move to a new showroom for the January Las Vegas Market. They will be 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.
Furniture First will also be holding its General Membership Meeting during Market, at which the buying group’s staff and Members share news, updates on programs, and plans for the year ahead.