Home Furnishings Association member City Furniture has gone big in Orlando. How big? The two-story, 120,000-square-foot store on Interstate 4 that opened last month is the largest in City Furniture’s 32-store Florida network.
City Furniture is also going green. How green? The new store is one of eight City locations recently built to earn Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. LEED-certified buildings meet one of the highest environmental performance standards in the world, assessed by site development, water efficiency, energy efficiency, material section, indoor air quality and innovation in design.
New POS technology
The new City Furniture includes many of the hallmark amenities and services City has added to its stores in recent years, including the KC Café & Wine bar and City Marketplace, a dedicated in-store shop for home accessories. It also has an advanced point of sale technology that company officials are trumpeting as the first of its kind in the U.S. furniture industry.
Customers can learn about availability and complete purchase of any item while relaxing with a glass of wine on a sofa, or testing a mattress – or from anywhere in the store. City pioneered the customized iPad sales system, working closely with Apple and IBM.
In real time, the system enables sales associates to check all items in stock and at all City Furniture stores and distribution centers. It also allows a salesman to take payment and complete scheduling the delivery almost instantaneously, making the experience faster, easier and more pleasant for customers.
City Furniture President Andrew Koenig, who has been overseeing the company’s $100 million expansion in Central and South Florida, said the innovations implemented in City stores are not perks, but rather important necessities to the company’s growth.
“Growing in today’s crowded furniture industry demands constant innovation, to engage customers and make shopping enjoyable and streamlined,” said Koenig. “Our values and our customers’ concerns drive City Furniture’s innovation, whether it’s our 2040 Green Promise to be fully carbon neutral by 2040, or our 5 percent Giving Pledge that commits us to give back at least 5 percent of annual profits to charities in the communities we serve.”
City operates 19 showrooms from Miami through Vero Beach, and in Fort Myers, Naples, The Villages and Orlando, as well as 13 Ashley Furniture showrooms as that brand’s Southeast and Southwest Florida licensee.
Read the Shop Talk blog for news about HFA members.
