Discount furniture chain opens its first Connecticut location

A small Westchester County, N.Y. discount furniture chain has added its first location in Connecticut.

The Bargain House by Quality Furniture opened its first Connecticut store in Newington’s Turnpike Plaza earlier this month. The store, at 2985 Berlin Turnpike, moved into a space formerly occupied by Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Bargain House by Quality Furniture is headquartered in Hartsdale, N.Y. The chain has New York stores in White Plains, Clarkstown and the Howard Beach section of Queens.

Bargain House joins the already crowded landscape of furniture stores clustered along the Berlin Turnpike in Newington. There are about a half dozen stores from within that category along the busy road, including Raymour & Flanigan, Bassett, Ashley and Bob’s Discount Furniture.

David Cadden said retailers frequently cluster in areas occupied by their rivals with the belief the volume of potential customers that pass by their competitors will be large enough that they can grab a small share.

“For shoppers, it allows them to shop a lot of locations in a short period of time,” Cadden said. “For the new retailers, they figure their competitors have already done their homework for them in terms of traffic counts and demographics.”

But Cadden said a small, little-known chain like Bargain House faces a real challenge competing against so many other furniture retailers.

“If they were just going up against more upscale retailers like Raymour & Flanigan, they could differentiate themselves on price,” he said. “But going up against a discount furniture retailer like Bob’s with the kind of name recognition that store has, it’s going to make it difficult for them to develop a following of customers.”

Luther Turmelle/Hearst Connecticut Media Bargain House by Quality Furniture has opened its first Connecticut store in Newington’s Turnpike Plaza,