Rooms To Go Incorporated is American furniture store chain. Based in Seffner, Florida the company operates 226 stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Puerto Rico. The company was founded in September 1990 by Jeffrey and Morty Seaman, when they sold Seaman Furniture Company. According to Furniture Today, Rooms To Go is the 3rd largest furniture retailer in the US.
Video Rooms To Go
History
1933-1990: Seaman's
Julius Seaman opened his first store in 1933 after dropping out of the seventh grade. His enterprise gradually increased to an annual $150,000 in sales and allowed him to send his two sons to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. "His big[gest] goal in life was that his boys would follow him and build up his business," Morton Seaman told Forbes. Julius Seaman died at the age of 48 of a heart attack. He left Morton, the elder son and college graduate, to help his mother save for the business, while Carl, still in school, worked at weekends and during vacations.
In 1955, they spent $1,000 on the store's first ad. It was a full-page spread in a local paper. When sales tripled, the same week the ad was published, Morton decided to open a second store to reduce the cost of advertisement per unit. By 1971 there were seven Seaman stores.
In 1988, Seaman's Furniture was taken over in a buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for $350 million, burdening the company with severe debt. Jeffrey Seaman, son of Morton Seaman, was 28 at the time, but he shouldered a large portion of the buying duties for the company. He and his father developed an overseas program during Seaman's restructuring phase.
In February 1990, four months after the major financial restructuring designed to reduce the company's debt, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts replaced the Seamans with Matthew D. Serra, former president and CEO of the G. Fox division of May Department Stores.
1990: Founding of Rooms To Go
After the Seaman father and son left Seaman's Furniture due to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts replacing them, they opened the first Rooms To Go in Orlando, Florida on September 7, 1990. Rooms To Go's founding concept was the sale of furniture in whole room packages. Furniture was offered in predesigned rooms, targeted at consumers looking to save both time and money, without sacrificing quality, when shopping for home decor.
2017 Bonded Leather Suit and Settlement
In June, 2017, Rooms To Go was sued over complaints that their "leather" furniture would flake and peel shortly after purchase. The furniture, sold as leather, was in fact made of a mix of leather and synthetic fibers. [1] Similarly, the company has already settled a $13.5M lawsuit involving allegations concerning fabric protection that was sold, but never installed.[2] Rooms to Go, consequently, has one of the lowest customer-satisfaction scores in the entire furniture industry.
Maps Rooms To Go
Distribution centers
- Suwanee, Georgia
- Dunn, North Carolina
- Arlington, Texas
- Katy, Texas
- Seffner, Florida
- Lakeland, Florida
- Pearl River, Louisiana
Products
Cindy Crawford Home
Rooms To Go has been partnered with supermodel Cindy Crawford for over 10 years. The Cindy Crawford Home collection focuses on living room, bedroom, and dining room furniture.
Sofia Vergara Collection
In March 2013, Rooms To Go announced a partnership with Modern Family star Sofia Vergara. Rooms To Go and Sofia's relationship began over 15 years ago when the single mother first moved to the U.S. According to Sofia, "My relationship with Rooms To Go began over 15 years ago when I moved to the United States as a single mother, and furnished my first apartment entirely from their store." The Sofia Vergara Collection offers contemporary living room, bedroom, and dining room sets.
Eric Church "Highway to Home"
Rooms To Go began selling Eric Church's "Highway to Home" furniture collection in 2016. "This collection of bedroom, dining room, upholstery and occasional pieces is inspired by Eric's eclectic music and lifestyle." Before moving to Nashville, Church worked in a furniture manufacturing plant, and his father continues to work in the industry.
See also
- Seaman's Furniture
References
External links
- Official website (Mobile)
Source of the article : Wikipedia