By Andrew Green, Staff ReporterA NEW store in Kingston is the latest move by a consortium of businessmen with a plan to carve out a niche on the Caribbean furniture retail trade.
Rooms To Go formally opened its doors to the public at Constant Spring Road in St. Andrew on Saturday. This follows the opening of its first store in Montego Bay in February of this year.
"Rooms to Go offers a new concept in the way furniture is purchased, displayed and even the way it is delivered," said Anthony Smatt, head of local operations. He was addressing the opening ceremony at the new store.
"We build a room for you," said Gary Abrahams, a Rooms To Go sales representative. "We can offer you a completely furnished room."
The customer can get a complete bedroom, living room or dining room, Mr. Abrahams said, "that is why we have the name, Rooms To Go."
Mr. Smatt said the company decided not offer furniture on hire purchase but had made arrangements for bank financing with RBTT, Bank of Nova Scotia and NCB. He said, "whatever you purchase, can be financed through the banks at regular bank rates."
And when the furniture is delivered, "we assemble it," he said. "We make sure that you scrutinise it for anything that may make you unhappy, and when we are finished, we clean up and leave."
The concept of bringing the business to the Caribbean came about after, "we saw the amount of furniture being shipped to Jamaica," Mr. Smatt said, "and the hassle that people went through in going up to the United States and buying furniture from Rooms To Go."
A group of businessmen collaborated to acquire the Caribbean franchising rights from Rooms To Go, Mr. Smatt said. Those rights are valuable because Rooms To Go is now the biggest furniture retailer in the US, with sales at US$1.2 billion. The business group consists of Denny Diedrick, Stephen Scott, Rex Rankin, Randy Buck and himself.
"We have the entire Caribbean," he said. The group has established a store in the Cayman Islands, and 'very shortly' will open another store in the US Virgin Islands. Opportunities are being examined in the Dominican Republic and Barbados is actively under consideration.
"The response we have had in Montego Bay has been tremendous," Mr. Smatt said. That store is now turning a modest profit.
"Our furniture is different," Mr. Smatt said. "I don't think anyone else in Jamaica sells the kind of furniture or the accessories we carry. I don't see a competitor." Rooms To Go is entering an area of the market that was left empty, said sales representative Everton Woodstock
He said, "the quality furniture we bring is better than you normally find, but the prices are reasonable. It is a good value proposition." "People are really appreciative of us being here," Mr. Smatt said. The Kingston store has actually been open to the public for a week, and "the response here has boggled the mind."
Minister of Commerce, Science and Technology, Phillip Paulwell said, "I am amazed by what I am seeing here today." Franchises were once a controversial issue in Jamaica,
Mr. Paulwell said. But the Government encouraged their introduction because they enhance Jamaica's economic environment, provide good models for domestic businesses to emulate and increase the level of competition.
"I want to commend you on the high quality of the goods that you sell here," the minister said. Rooms To Go is considering another location in Jamaica which he did not wish to identify now, Mr. Smatt said.
And, "If we outgrow this store, we will be looking at a larger store in Kingston."
