A slew of acquisitions helped a pair of Home Furnishings Association members make the biggest jumps among furniture stores in Furniture Today’s Top 100 list for 2019.
Furniture Today’s rankings are based on a company’s estimated annual sales. With an estimated $169.8 million in sales last year, FFO Home jumped from No. 66 in last year’s rankings to No. 49 after acquiring 13 Furniture Liquidators stores and another 15 Mattress and More bedding stores from Service Furniture and Bedding. The Arkansas-based company also opened eight stores last year and is not slowing down. FFO opened its 84th store in Stephenville, Texas, last month with at least a half-dozen more stores targeted to open in Texas and the Midwest later this year.
Another HFA member, the Dufresne Spencer Group, climbed from No. 32 in last year’s annual rankings to No. 19 this year with an estimated $730.5 million in sales – nearly doubling its $321.3 million in sales from 2017. That’s the largest increase by any Top 100 retailer.
DSG is an Ashley HomeStore licensee and owner of Stash Home multi-line stores. The company’s jump can be largely attributed to its acquisitions over the past 14 months of a pair of Top 100 companies. In 2014, DSG invested in Hill Country Holdings, another Top 100 licensee that, at the time, aligned the companies with more than 70 stores across the country.
In February, DSG went on another spending spree, this time purchasing nine of fellow HFA member Olinde’s Louisiana furniture stores. In between those deals, DSG acquired three HomeStores in New Mexico and another two HomeStores in Detroit. The company’s store count is up to 94 across 15 states.
Only The Original Mattress Factory, a bedding specialist based in Cleveland, enjoyed a higher climb in the rankings, moving from No. 90 to No. 63.
Other HFA takeaways from the 2019 Top 100:
Still the 1: HFA member Ashley HomeStores held on to its top ranking for the 13th straight year with sales up an estimated 9 percent to $4.53 billion at 658 stores.
The HFA Difference: Top 100 retailers enjoyed an average 5.08 percent gain in sales from 2017 to 2018. Those same retailers who are also HFA members enjoyed a 6.92 percent increase.
HFA’s clout: HFA members accounted for 40 of Furniture Today’s Top 100 spots, ranging from No. 1 Ashley HomeStore to No. 99 Furniture Enterprises of Alaska.
Welcome: Exclusive Furniture is the newest HFA member to crack the Top 100. The Houston-area company is No. 97.