Rooms To Go CEO Jeffrey Seaman said Sept. 30 he expects to decide in 60 days which of the two closed Rooms To Go stores in the Regency and Avenues areas will be converted into an outlet and which will be made available for sale or lease.
The new Rooms To Go scheduled to open Oct. 2 in The Markets at Town Center replaces both of them.
The Markets at Town Center space at 4875 Town Center Parkway is more than the combined space of the two existing stores, which were closed last week.
The 84,880-square-foot Markets at Town Center store comprises a 73,315-square-foot main floor and 11,565 square feet of mezzanine space.
Seaman said the jobs at the two closed stores were moved to The Markets at Town Center location, and Rooms To Go added about 30 more to reach about 65 positions.
The Markets at Town Center location is about midway between the Regency store, about 6 miles north, and the Avenues site, about 8 miles south.
Seffner-based Rooms To Go closed the roughly 30,000-square-foot Regency area store at 9278 Arlington Expressway, which was built in 1998, and the 41,000-square-foot Avenues area store at 11030 Philips Highway, which was developed in 1995 near The Avenues mall.
Seaman said Rooms To Go will need 15-20 employees for the outlet store.
The two closed stores are owned by Rooms To Go affiliates. Seaman said he has had market interest in both but they had not been on the market.
“Now we will take it seriously,” he said.
Rooms To Go also operates at 142 Blanding Blvd. in Orange Park. Another entity owns that 30,000-square-foot store, built in 1994.
“Orange Park is staying the same,” Seaman said, adding that it was updated a few years ago.
Flyers and ads for the “newest state-of-the-art showroom” at The Markets at Town Center say the “super showroom” includes Rooms To Go living rooms, bedrooms and dining furniture along with RTG Kids & Patio for children’s and outdoor furnishings.
Rooms To Go occupies a renovated former Toys R Us and Babies R Us store that closed in 2018. Through an entity, Seaman bought it Oct. 30 and renovated it.
The work included complete interior tenant improvements.
At the time, Seaman said Rooms To Go intended to renovate the store as its new concept.
In addition to its current furniture line, Rooms To Go added an expanded children’s section and a 9,000-square-foot area for outdoor patio furniture.
Seaman said he expects business to be “A-plus.”
“We have good stores in Jacksonville now, all three. It’s a very good market for Rooms To Go and I think it will be better with a new store,” Seaman said.
“It’s a very steady market that has gotten a lot better in the past few years.”
Seaman said Florida is a strong state for business,
“Jacksonville, in particular, has been very strong for us” as it adds population, he said.
“There is still room and it’s still more affordable than other areas of Florida.”
Seaman expects that to continue. “I have no reason to think that it won’t.”
He said Rooms To Go has 170 stores in 10 Southern states and in Puerto Rico. The states comprise Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
Seaman said the Jacksonville store is the fifth of the larger concepts. “That is our format going forward,” he said.
The pandemic also plays a part in the chain’s growth.
Seaman said initially, when the shutdowns started in March 2020, the demand for furniture was “amazingly strong.”
“Early in the pandemic when everybody was stuck at home, they decided they hated their furniture,” he said.
“A year and a half later, demand is still pretty strong.”
As a result, inventory is a factor.
“The supply chain around the world is challenged,” Seaman said.
“The issue for furniture retailers is getting enough furniture. Scale matters, so the larger retailers are able to do better than the smaller ones,” he said.
“We have a pretty good supply chain, but it’s still a daily challenge.”
Seaman said Rooms To Go sources half of its products from the United States. “The supply chain in the U.S. is better, but the supply chain in the U.S. is even stretched,” he said.
Seaman said the company’s imported inventory comes through most of the major ports.
He said the challenges are global.
“Everyone is dealing with the same thing.”
