Malouf Furniture in Foley, AL Joins Furniture First
Furniture World News Desk on
12/4/2017
Furniture First announced that in an online vote early last week, the Furniture First Board of Directors approved Malouf Furniture in Foley, AL as a member of the cooperative buying group. The vote took place outside of the regularly convened meetings due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
In 2000, Gardner Malouf established Malouf Furniture in Foley, AL as a branch of his family’s store, also named Malouf Furniture, in Greenwood, Mississippi. The roots of the retailer go all the way back to 1946 when Gardner’s grandfather, Alex Malouf, Sr., established his store in the Mississippi Delta region. In 1978, Alex Malouf, Jr. (Gardner’s father) established the current Greenwood location.
The Foley location thrived and expanded to 90,000 square feet in 2004. The location is currently completing recent renovations that will incorporate new mattress and furniture galleries, as designed by Martin Roberts, a Furniture First service partner.
“Malouf Furniture fits nicely into our membership map and we are a good fit for their merchandise mix,” said Andrew Kauffman, CEO of Furniture First. “Since we are geographically exclusive by representation, we manage our territories and the gulf coast of Alabama was open. We offer over 110 merchandise programs, with a good representation of mid to higher end products. We have seen a lot of growth in the higher end of the market and expect it to expand even more in 2018.”
As a new member, Malouf will be eligible for free travel to and accommodations at the buying group’s Annual Symposium in Fort Lauderdale next May. New members attend a pre-symposium orientation that acquaints them with the 60+ marketing and business service programs Furniture First brings members, including Tools 2B First analytics, as developed by member Furniture Mall of Kansas.
Furniture First’s Symposium will take place May 14-16, 2018. Sponsorships for the annual education and networking event sold out within two days of opening on November 1st this year. While the sponsor count is currently at 65, the staff is working with the hotel in an attempt to accommodate vendors on the waiting list.
More about Furniture First: Furniture First is a cooperative national home furnishings and mattress buying group serving full line independent retailers with sales over $2 million. A recent analysis found that collectively the group represents $2 billion in retail sales through 484 member store fronts. Furniture First occupies showrooms in High Point (IHFC G-770) and Las Vegas (A-810) where they display products from several of the group’s approved vendors. For more information on Furniture First Membership, please visit www.FurnitureFirst.coop/join or call 800-411-3477.