Furniture Chains Are Finding Room for Growth

(MoneyWatch)  Though some say the housing market is gradually improving, it's still surprising that furniture stores are one of the sectors in retail experiencing high-profile square-footage growth. After all, its peers in the home-furnishings end of the business, like Lowe's, are slowing down their once-rapid expansion paces of the last few years.
But many furniture retailers are finding opportunities in spaces left behind by the likes of Circuit City and Linens 'n Things. And the rents aren't bad in this climate, either.

Northeast chain Raymour & Flanigan is especially taking advantage of spaces left by the aforementioned chains. In Manhattan, it is going into a space vacated by a Circuit City. Raymour did the same at Linens in Philadelphia, and there are similar examples throughout the region as the chain continues to expand.

Another chain making a multi-location push is charmingly called The Dump, owned parent company Haynes Furniture. In Atlanta, the chain is opening in a former Home Depot unit, expanding it by 30,000 square feet. The company is also expanding and looking in locales besides Georgia, and will open a Phoenix location formerly housed by Costco's now-defunct home-furnishings concept.

Some companies are even launching new off-shoot concepts. Michigan-based Art Van Furniture, which is seeing its revenues at its 31 units declining, is still rolling out a chain of 12 stand-alone mattress stores across the state next year under the name Pure Sleep.

But despite all of these openings, some chains are pairing back. Linder's Furniture recently announced it is closing two Rooms Express stores in Southern California. Luxury chain Beverly Hall is shutting a longtime Atlanta store and might continue to shrink. So as with other areas in retailing, expansion in the furniture sector comes with fallout as well.