Bob’s Discount Furniture Celebrates Three New Store Openings, and Expansion

Furniture World News Desk on 1/23/2014

Bob’s Discount Furniture announced it will contribute more than $50,000 to 18 schools to celebrate the Feb. 13 grand opening of its three newest discount furniture stores. The new stores – the first Bob’s locations in the greater Philadelphia area – reflect the company’s continued commitment to serving residents throughout the East Coast and Mid-Atlantic regions, and are expected to add hundreds of new jobs to the local economy.

Locations and managers for the new stores are:

• King of Prussia, Penn. This 30,000-square-foot store at 330 W. DeKalb Pike (Route 202), in the DeKalb Plaza, will be managed by Tony Warner, former manager of Bob’s Yonkers, N.Y., store.
  
  
• Cherry Hill, N.J. This 31,000-square-foot store at 2234 W. Marlton Pike Road (Route 70), in the Garden State Pavilions Center, will be managed by Adam Abbassi, former sales manager at Bob’s Secaucus, N.J., store.
  
  
• Wilmington, Del. This 45,000-square-foot store at 5200 Brandywine Parkway, in the Brandywine Town Center, will be managed by Lisa Libretti, former manager of Bob’s Carle Place, N.Y., store.

With these three new locations, Bob’s has opened seven stores in the past 12 months, including two in the Washington, D.C., area last February, and two in the New York City area in May. Bob’s Discount Furniture now has 50 stores in 11 states (Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia).

“We’re always striving to bring the Bob’s store experience closer to our customers,” said Kevin Parker, zone vice president for Bob’s Discount Furniture. “And after expanding in the key Washington, D. C., and New York City markets last year, the next phase of our growth plan was to fill in the gap in the greater Philadelphia area, where we have been serving customers for years through our website and nearby stores.”

“We’re thrilled to extend our operations into the Philadelphia area,” said Bob Kaufman, Bob’s president emeritus and co-founder. “We’re proud to be 50-stores strong with the addition of these three locations near the City of Brotherly Love – with no gimmicks and the same low prices every day.”

Opening Celebrations

Grand opening celebrations for all three stores will start at 9:45 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 13, with local dignitaries on hand and complimentary refreshments served from the stores’ cafes. Kaufman will attend the Wilmington store’s ribbon cutting. Cathy Poulin, the company’s public relations director, will be on hand for the ribbon cutting at the King of Prussia store. And Ted English, Bob’s CEO, will participate in the ribbon cutting at the Cherry Hill store.

Children’s entertainment will include balloons and face painting. Grand-opening festivities will extend through the weekend at all three new store locations.

Donations

To show its commitment to the new stores’ communities, Bob’s will present checks totaling $50,250 to 18 local schools during the grand openings. These donations are being made by the company and Bob’s Outreach program, which supports schools and non-profit groups in the communities where it operates.

Wilmington Mayor Dennis P. Williams and Cherry Hill Mayor Chuck Cahn, as well as Josh Shapiro, chairman of the Montgomery County (Penn.) Board of Commissioners and Pennsylvania state Rep. Tim Briggs, selected a deserving school or education organization in each of their communities to receive a $5,000 donation from Bob’s Outreach to support education and arts programs. The recipients were:

• East Side Charter School, Wilmington
• Bridgeport Elementary School, Bridgeport (King of Prussia area)
• Cherry Hill Education Foundation, Cherry Hill Township

Bob’s Outreach will also present $2,350 donations to each of these King of Prussia-area schools:

• Radnor Middle School
• Caley Elementary School
• Candlebrook Elementary School
• Upper Merion Area Middle School
• Upper Merion Area High School

These Cherry Hill schools will receive $2,350 checks

• JF Cooper Elementary School
• Carusi Middle School
• Cherry Hill High School East
• Beck Middle School
• Clara Barton Elementary School

And the following Wilmington-area schools also will receive $2,350 checks:

• Brandywine High School
• Forwood Elementary School
• P.S. duPont Middle School
• Carrcroft Elementary School
• Alexis I. duPont High School

Bob’s has donated money to hundreds of schools over the past 20 years through programs and contests like the annual Celebrate the Arts contest, which awarded nine winning schools a total of $45,000 last year to support their visual, creative and performing arts programs. Previous recipients have used the donations to purchase new art and classroom supplies, fund student activity groups and go on field trips.

About Bob’s Discount Furniture: Bob’s Discount Furniture provides a wide variety of quality furnishings – including living room furniture, bedroom furniture, dining room furniture, office furniture and home accents – at everyday low prices. The stores also offer a unique and enjoyable shopping experience featuring cafes in each store with free gourmet coffee, ice cream, cookies and candy. Since 1991, Bob’s has built strong customer loyalty by offering the highest-value home furnishings at the lowest possible prices. With 50 stores located in New England, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, the Manchester, Conn.-based company has become the 16th-largest U.S. furniture chain. Bob’s is committed to supporting communities where its stores are located through a variety of charitable giving efforts. Bob’s Discount Furniture Charitable Foundation has anchored the company’s philanthropic work for more than 15 years. In addition, the Bob’s Outreach program was created as a separate entity to help schools and children-related charities. Every year the company donates more than $100,000 to schools and more than $1.5 million to charities through these programs. For more information on Bob’s charitable programs, visit www.BobsCares.org.