Miskelly opens 'grand' Ashley store
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, August 11, 2008
MADISON, Miss. — Miskelly Furniture has opened a 40,000-square-foot-Ashley Furniture HomeStore here, its first store off its main Jackson, Miss., campus and a reflection of its plan to gain market share even in the toughest of times.
Ashley Chairman Ron Wanek, here for a preview party, called this 377th HomeStore “the grandest of them all.” It features classic Corinthian architectural elements inside and out, giant palladium windows and new design touches to appeal to female consumers.
The store, three years in the planning, turned out to be a $10 million investment for Miskelly, the Top 100 company led by brothers Chip, Oscar and Tommy Miskelly.
They expect to do $12 million to $15 million in sales in the store's first full year, down from an earlier estimate of $20 million made before the housing slump, said Tommy Miskelly. He added that longer-term, the potential is still great because the market in this Jackson, Miss. suburb is underserved.
The opening should help push Miskelly's total sales past $60 million this year. The retailer is No. 94 on Furniture/Today's Top 100 survey of U.S. furniture stores with estimated 2007 sales of $58.5 million at its main store and RoomStore by Miskelly room package specialty store next door.
“You have the No. 1 furniture brand in (one of the) top markets to live in and the No. 1 furniture retailer in Mississippi,” said Chip Miskelly of the Ashley opening. “That's a pretty good combination.”
Madison, a fast-growing northeast suburb of Jackson, recently came in No. 8 on Best Life magazine's list of “The 100 Best Places to Raise a Family,” based on factors such as access to health care, education spending and activities for children.
The new HomeStore there is palatial, with 32-foot ceilings, a light stone exterior and a mix of warm and bold colors through a showroom arranged largely by lifestyle.
The Miskellys said they visited other Ashley stores for ideas but also looked at women's apparel stores and other specialty shops, such as Anthropologie, to come up with display ideas. That led to a series of focal points in various departments designed to draw in the female consumer.
One example is in the new store's bedding area. Miskelly installed a gazebo with columns and a wrought-iron canopy at the entrance leading into the department, which has the feel of an affluent spa, with low lighting, aromatherapy candles and stately columns as a backdrop to bedding from Simmons and Sealy.
Near a contemporary casual dining display, Miskelly put an electric fireplace (one of four in the store) as a display feature on a wall decorated with a black and white swirl design, which visual manager Colita Ogletree said was inspired a contemporary rug. The black and white theme is a play on the classic, sophisticated designs of White House Black Market, a popular women's apparel retailer.
Code information on the paint colors used in the store — mostly from Sherwin-Williams — is available to consumers who want to match them at home. The store also is richly accessorized, and Miskelly said it's hoping to push home accents to 5% of total sales.
In and around the colorful youth bedroom department at the back of the store, Miskelly built five stations where kids can play Xbox and Play Station games while their parents shop.
There are games for the dads and others as well in the cinema seating department, where Miskelly has installed a state-of-the art video wall made up of nine 42-inch Samsung televisions that can show nine different football games, say, or be linked together for one giant broadcast.
Vicki Collums, vice president of merchandising overseeing buying and visual display, said she viewed the TV wall as a way to liven up a usually boring motion upholstery area. She said it's likely to attract more men than women, which will give wives more time to shop without feeling pressured.
Ashley's Wanek called the store “far and away the finest we have out of the approximately 380 we have out there,” but added that he wasn't surprised.
“We've done business with the Miskellys for many years,” he said. “They're sharp business people, among the best in the country, so we're very proud of them.”
Miskelly promoted the opening with a series of giveaways — including a $4,000 shopping spree, four $1,000 shopping sprees and half-off deals on sofas and beds to early customers. Through the retailer's contacts, the opening also got an unexpected mention by Kelly Ripa on a recent “Live with Regis and Kelly” show.
On the soft opening July 26, a week before the grand opening, some 1,500 consumers came through the store. On the official opening day, more than 1,900 shopped the store.
It was a nice respite from a generally lousy business climate. Oscar Miskelly said he doubts there will be a big turnaround until late 2009 or 2010.
“But during downturns, I think, is the time to grow market share,” he said. He estimated that Miskelly already has about a 50% share of its central Mississippi market.
“We are not afraid to invest in our business even in downturns,” Tommy Miskelly said. “We plan to stay the course.”
The new store is supported by a $10 million, 90,000-square-foot expansion of Miskelly's distribution center, which is expected to be completed late this year and will help the retailer execute next-day and same-day delivery service from the HomeStore. It already is offering the speedy service from the main campus south of Jackson.
In October, Miskelly will follow with its first 4,000-square-foot SleepStore by Miskelly in nearby Ridgeland, Miss.
The Ashley Furniture HomeStores network, the largest U.S.-based furniture chain, continues to grow with 379 stores in the U.S. and other countries, including Mexico and Canada.
Ashley also expects to open HomeStores soon in Japan, Panama, Greece, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Honduras and Guatemala.
All told, Ashley and its retailer partners are expected to open 50 to 55 stores this year.
