Wickes Furniture Opens First Downtown Chicago Flagship Showroom

Furniture World Magazine

Wickes Furniture Company, Inc., part of Sun Capital Partners, Inc., a leading private investment firm specializing in leveraged buyouts and investments in market- leading companies, kicks off a multi-day celebration around the opening of its new Flagship Showroom in downtown Chicago. The two-story showroom is located at 2606 North Elston Avenue and carries a full line of living, bedroom and dining room groups as well as mattresses and home accessories. It is also the first Wickes location to carry "Urban Innovations," a new metro line of furniture and accessories designed for stylish and comfortable living in smaller spaces, such as city condos and apartments. "We're proud to open our new Flagship Showroom in downtown Chicago with the debut of the Urban Innovations line. This new product line was specifically designed to meet the special needs of our consumers living in a city environment," said John Disa, CEO, Wickes Furniture. "Our goal is to make shopping at Wickes a truly enjoyable experience and enable our customers to easily and affordably bring to life the home of their dreams." Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony Wickes will celebrate the opening of the new showroom at Elston Avenue on Wednesday, May 23, 2007. Doors will open at 9:00 a.m. with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony and media tour at 10:00 a.m. The ceremony will kickoff Wickes "Urban Innovations Challenge" with the unveiling of room vignettes designed by local media celebrities utilizing furniture and accessories from the new furniture line. Celebrities participating in the competition include: - Danae Alexander, on-air personality, Smooth Jazz, WNUA-FM, 95.5 - Frank Fontana, host of HGTV's "Design on a Dime" and "Takeover my Makeover" and Chicago Sun-Times design columnist - Melissa Forman, on-air personality, WLIT-FM 93.9, "The Lite" Tony Sculfield, DJ, WGCI-FM, 107.5 - Valerie Warner, morning news anchor, WGN-TV, CW 9 Consumers can vote for their favorite celebrity-designed room in the Elston Avenue showroom Wednesday, May 23 through Monday, May 28, 2007. All celebrity participants will receive furniture to donate to the local charity of their choice, while the winner will receive an additional furniture package for their selected charity. The winning room in the challenge will be donated to an individual who recently moved out of Lathrop Homes, a residential Chicago public housing complex. Consumer Grand Opening: To excite consumers during the busy Memorial Day holiday, Wickes' Grand Opening weekend will take place Saturday, May 26 through Monday May 28, 2007. Customers will have a chance to win free merchandise and gift cards during hourly drawings. Michael Payne, host of HGTV's, "Designing For the Sexes," will be making in-store appearances on Saturday, May 26 and Monday, May 28, 2007, conducting design seminars on how to approach interior design when living in smaller spaces, and signing free copies of his book, Let's Ask Michael. In addition, personalities and radio remote street teams from local Chicagoland radio stations will be making in-store appearances on Saturday, May 26 and Monday, May 28, 2007 between 12:00 p.m. and 4 p.m., handing out prizes and more giveaways to customers throughout the day. Special showroom hours for the Grand Opening weekend are as follows: Saturday, May 26, 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.; Sunday, May 27, 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Monday, May 28, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The new, state-of-the-art Flagship Showroom on Elston Avenue is more than 48,000 square feet and features large glass facades, brick, brushed metal, wood trim, hundreds of beautiful accessories and other embellishments to showcase Wickes' stylish furniture. More than 8,500 square feet of the showroom is dedicated to the new "Urban Innovations" line. Regular showroom hours are Monday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. For more information, please call the Elston Avenue Wickes Furniture showroom at (773) 235-9380. About Wickes Furniture: Wickes is one of the nation's largest furniture retailers offering great selections of quality home furnishings. With more than 1,700 employees, Wickes is focused on helping customers bring their vision for home to life, easily and affordably. Wickes has 37 showrooms nationwide located in Illinois, Indiana, Oregon and California, plus 5 distribution centers. Wickes was named a Top 25 Furniture Retail Leader by Furniture Today in 2006. For more information about Wickes Furniture, please visit http://www.wickesfurniture.com/. About Sun Capital Partners, Inc.: Sun Capital Partners, Inc. is a leading private investment firm focused on leveraged buyouts, equity, debt, and other investments in market-leading companies that can benefit from its in-house operating professionals and experience. Sun Capital affiliates have invested in and managed more than 150 companies worldwide with combined sales in excess of $35.0 billion since Sun Capital's inception in 1995. Sun Capital has offices in Boca Raton, Los Angeles, and New York, as well as affiliates with offices in London, Tokyo, and Shenzhen. For more information, please visit http://www.suncappart.com/.