City Furniture Announces Multi-Million Dollar Investment

Furniture World News Desk on 4/23/2014

Florida’s quest to increase privately owned businesses’ use of natural gas vehicles is gaining momentum, as retailer City Furniture marked completion of a new, $1.5 million compressed natural gas (CNG) station on its Tamarac headquarters campus. One of the first major furniture retailers in the U.S. to build its own CNG station and convert the majority of its delivery fleet to run on CNG, the firm plans to convert its entire 85-truck fleet by 2016.

“Going ‘all-in’ with CNG’s technology is right for our company and great for our communities,” said City Furniture President Keith Koenig. “As a clean, green domestic energy resource that increases U.S. energy independence, CNG will be a boon for the nation’s economy, and it aligns perfectly with our team’s ongoing commitment to be innovative environmental stewards.”

Joining Koenig at the station dedication ceremony were dignitaries including Florida Office of Energy Director Patrick Sheehan, who noted that City Furniture is one of the first privately-owned retailers based in Florida to adopt CNG for use by a sizeable fleet of medium-duty trucks that deliver goods directly to consumers. 

The decision to convert City Furniture’s delivery fleet to CNG followed several years of due diligence, Koenig noted. “We knew that CNG burns cleaner, with a much smaller carbon footprint, it’s economical, and nearly all the natural gas fuel used in the U.S. comes from North America. In considering the change, we researched vehicle manufacturers, spoke with station builders throughout the U.S. and abroad, and met with owners of CNG stations and county leaders,” he explained. Meanwhile, the company expanded its network to 26 stores – and added online ordering – so that its market for deliveries stretched from the Keys through the Tampa and Orlando areas.

“The economics made sense for our company’s future, and we saw progress in the statewide CNG station network,” Koenig added. “In 2013, when Florida incentivized businesses to invest in CNG-powered vehicles with rebates and a five-year tax exemption on natural gas, we knew the timing was right,” he added. City Furniture applied for the state’s rebate program, he said and based on its qualifying purchases, has received $250,000 in rebates. That amount has helped offset the firm’s more than $3 million investment in new CNG-powered vehicles.

Since mid-2013, City Furniture has purchased 21 Isuzu NPR HD trucks and 30 Isuzu NPR-HD Gas trucks, which were then converted by IMPCO Automotive to run on CNG. Many of them are bi-fuel, running on either CNG or gas. At the new, private City Furniture station constructed by TruStar Energy, all of City Furniture’s dedicated CNG trucks and bi-fuel trucks can refill with CNG overnight. For deliveries throughout Central Florida, the company has arranged to use CNG stations in that area, Koenig said. For those longer hauls, City Furniture uses the bi-fuel trucks that have enough CNG to travel about 225 miles, and an additional 30 gallons of gasoline in reserve.

Additional speakers at the dedication were Florida Representative Katie Edwards, Broward County Commissioner Martin Kiar and Tamarac Mayor Harry Dressler. Koenig thanked the City of Tamarac for working closely with his team on logistics for the new CNG station, and the City of Sunrise, which is the natural gas supplier for the station.

Ranked 31 on Furniture Today magazine’s list of the top 100 U.S. furniture retailers, City Furniture is already widely known as a “green” innovator in every aspect of its business – from constructing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified stores, and manufacturing upholstered products with soy-based cushions, to recycling millions of pounds of cardboard and 500,000 pounds of Styrofoam annually. Employing more than 1100 associates, the company has 16 City Furniture stores in its network, and as the Ashley Furniture HomeStore licensee in southeast and southwest Florida, it owns and operates 10 Ashley Furniture HomeStore locations. In 2013, the company opened its first City Furniture showrooms at The Villages, establishing a brick-and-mortar presence in Central Florida.

For information on City Furniture, visit www.cityfurniture.com.