New Delivery System, GE Finance Programs & Manufacturing Plant On Tap For 2003

Furniture World Magazine

As Keith Koenig walks the aisles of City Furniture’s massive 660,000 square foot distribution center, his vision of the future is bolstered by a successful formula developed in the not-so-distant past. “We started out with a single waterbed store, with just 800 square feet of floor space in 1971,” Koenig said, looking out at a facility that could house 11 football fields. “The reason we’re here today is pretty simple—we’ve stayed focused on making furniture shopping a fun, hassle-free experience for customers. “If we stay innovative on the customer service front, we’ll continue to grow.” Growth has become a way of life for the south Florida furniture retailer, which has seen sales increase more than 500 percent in the last six years. City Furniture’s 14 locations in Broward, Dade and Palm Beach counties will collectively top $220 million in sales this year. So what does Koenig have “in store” for customers now? City Furniture will roll out a state-of-the-art, same-day delivery service that’s on call seven days a week. “A few stores can offer same-day delivery if you get the order in before noon, and all the planets line up right,” Koenig said. “We want to have a system in place that if a customer orders furniture five minutes before closing at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night, that we can deliver it that night. “People work during the day, and we want to fit into their schedule, not make them fit into ours.” Koenig also plans to expand the company’s flexible finance programs. City Furniture partnered with GE Retail Sales Finance to create a state-of-the-art credit system. “Working with GE to develop this technology has been great,” Koenig said. “With other companies, you fill out forms, have to fax them somewhere and wait for an approval. The system we developed with GE is completely electronic. Any of our associates can swipe a customer’s driver’s license, plug in one or two pieces of data, and get an approval within 60 seconds.“It’s a critical part of the package for us,” Koenig said. “Instantly giving customers more purchasing power helps us grow our business.” Glenn Marino, president and CEO of GE Retail Sales Finance, agreed.“We like to create finance programs for up-and-coming businesses, and grow as they grow,” Marino said. “City Furniture’s success has been spectacular, and their commitment to constantly improving customer service is the key.” But just delivering and financing the goods isn’t good enough. City Furniture will also start making its own furniture. Koenig is building a 65,000-square-foot plant on a 10-acre site in New Albany, Miss. The new manufacturing company, Kevin Charles Upholstery, is named after Keith’s late brother Kevin Koenig, who started the company with that small waterbed store 31 years ago. “We’re excited about the opportunity to manufacture and market our own furniture,” Koenig said, adding that the new venture will be headed up by former La-Z-Boy/Hickory Mark executive Rusty Berryhill. “We can ensure high quality, but more importantly, deliver exactly what our customers want.” About City Furniture: Founded in 1971 as Waterbed City, with a single store in Fort Lauderdale, City Furniture has grown to become south Florida’s premiere home furnishings retailer. City Furniture’s corporate headquarters is in Tamarac, Fla., with 14 showroom locations in Broward, Dade and Palm Beach counties. About GE Retail Sales Finance: GE Retail Sales Finance is a division of GE Consumer Finance, a unit of General Electric Company. With $73 billion in assets, the company is a leading provider of credit services to consumers, retailers and auto dealers in more than 35 countries around the world. GE Consumer Finance, based in Stamford, Conn., offers a range of financial products, including private label credit cards, personal loans, bank cards, auto loans and leases, mortgages, corporate travel and purchasing cards, debt consolidation and home equity loans and credit insurance. GE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified services, technology and manufacturing company with operations worldwide. More information about GE can be found online at www.ge.com.