Rooms To Go

Rooms To Go Incorporated
Private
Industry Furniture
Founded September 7, 1990
Founder Jeffrey Seaman
Morty Seaman
Headquarters Seffner, Florida, U.S.
Number of locations
 132 (July 2016)
Area served
 United States
Puerto Rico
Key people
 Jeffrey Seaman
(Founder and CEO)
Morty Seaman
(Founder)
Stephen Buckley
(President and COO)
Revenue IncreaseUS$2.2 billion (2016)[1]
Number of employees
 7,000 (2016)[1]
Website Rooms To Go Official Site
Rooms to Go in Durham, North Carolina
Rooms To Go Kids in The Woodlands, Texas

Rooms To Go Incorporated is an 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.[2] The company was founded in September 1990[3] by Jeffrey and Morty Seaman, when they sold Seaman Furniture Company.[4] According to Furniture Today, Rooms To Go is the 3rd largest furniture retailer in the US.[5]

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.[6]

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.[6]

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.[7]

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.[7][8]

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.[9]

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.[10]

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."[11] Before moving to Nashville, Church worked in a furniture manufacturing plant, and his father continues to work in the industry.[12]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 https://www.forbes.com/companies/rooms-to-go/
  2. ↑ "Rooms To Go Store Locator - Furniture Store Locator". Rooms To Go, Inc. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Rooms To Go Business Review in Seffner, FL - West Coast Florida BBB". Better Business Bureau. Retrieved February 3, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Rooms To Go Company Profile - Yahoo! Finance". Yahoo. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Top 100 US Furniture Stores by Sales — Furniture Today". Apartment Therapy. Apartment Therapy. Retrieved 2015-10-12.
  6. 1 2 "Seaman Furniture Company, Inc. - Company History". Funding Universe. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  7. 1 2 "Rooms To Go, Inc. - Company History". Funding Universe. Retrieved February 3, 2012.
  8. ↑ Daniel Cuff (February 9, 1990). "BUSINESS PEOPLE; Family Members Leave At Seaman Furniture - New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Room to Grow - Gulf Coast Business Review - Tampa Bay, Bradenton, Fort Myers, Naples". Gulf Coast Business Review. April 30, 2009. Retrieved February 4, 2012.
  10. ↑ "Sofia Vergara's New Gig: Furniture?". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
  11. ↑ "Highway to Home - Eric Church". Eric Church. Retrieved 2016-07-22.
  12. ↑ Russell, Thomas (Oct 17, 2015). "Pulaski finds hit product with Eric Church collection".
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