Art Van Furniture to open near Polaris
Art Van Furniture, which calls itself the Midwest’s largest furniture retailer, plans to open its first central Ohio store in March at 1551 Gemini Place.
The store will join a crowded field of Polarisarea furniture retailers including Ikea, Value City Furniture, Haverty’s Furniture, Big Sandy Superstore, Morris Home, Ashley Homestore and Arhaus, among others.
But the Michiganbased furniture retailer is accustomed to entering competitive markets,
said Diane Charles, vice president of corporate communications.
“When we entered the Chicago market, no one had 10 percent of sales,” Charles said. “We grabbed 10 percent within the first three years, and we now have 15 locations in the Chicago area.”
Art Van Furniture was founded in 1959 by Art Van Elslander, who sold the company in 2017 to Bostonbased private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners. Van Elslander died at 87 in February 2018.
With headquarters in Warren, Michigan, Art Van Furniture had $1.4 billion in revenue in 2018. In the past decade the chain has grown from 31 stores to 188 stores in nine states. Art Van operates three other Ohio stores — in Holland, Findlay and Genoa — as well as three free-standing Art Van Puresleep stores in Toledo.
About three years, the company began studying central Ohio.
“One of the reasons why we’re coming is that Columbus is a growing market with lots of young families,” Charles said. “We feel we have a kind of niche built around everything home and family. Value City does a great job, but we think we serve a slightly different niche.”
Consumers in Columbus spent $421.1 million on furniture last year, making the city “the logical next step for expansion in Ohio,” said local retail analyst Chris Boring. “Art Van seem to be expanding from the north and going south. Furniture is one of the few categories in retail that hasn’t been affected too much by e-commerce. It’s one category outside of food service that is expanding. Most others are contracting.”
The seeming glut of furniture retailers in the Polaris area should actually benefit Art Van, said Lee Peterson,
an executive vice president at WD Partners, a Dublin retail-consulting company.
“There’s an old adage in retail: It’s better to compete with four or five people on the same street because customers are already coming there,” Peterson said. “So customers are probably going to stroll into your place just to see it out of curiosity. That’s a huge hurdle you’ve just overcome.”
The Polaris store will employ 50 workers.
At 70,000 square feet, the two-story showroom is roughly in the middle in size among Art Van stores, which range from 45,000 square feet to 120,000 square feet.
“Right now, with the competition of internet retailers, most stores are smaller,” Charles said, adding that the industry still relies on physical stores. “In the past it took maybe three trips to a furniture store before you were ready to buy. But now, we know that when people come in they have already educated themselves online. They’re coming in to touch, feel and sit on the furniture.”
The store will feature six lifestyle collections — casual, urban, farmhouse, modern, traditional and mid-century.
The store will also feature an Art Van Puresleep mattress collection, the Cindy Crawford Home collection and the Outlet at Art Van clearance center, among other offerings.
“Puresleep is a differentiator,” she said.
The mattress line includes a diagnostic test using 18 data points developed by Duke University that helps customers figure out what mattress is right for them. “We like to say that we don’t sell mattresses, we sell sleep,” Charles said.
Art Van will hold grand opening celebrations at its new Polaris store at the end of March featuring special guests Cindy Crawford and Nigel Barker.