City Furniture President Keith Koenig believes that what makes the company’s brands stand out is the “great style, great value, great people [and] great delivery.”
City Furniture has unveiled its new, expanded Pinecrest location and plans for further expansion in South Florida.
The Tamarac-based furniture retailer transformed its showroom at 9255 S. Dixie Highway, adding a second floor and green-design upgrades, and created 25 jobs.
The new showroom is part of City Furniture’s $17 million South Florida expansion, which includes five new stores built to meet green-building standards, as the company seeks Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
“We admire and value environmental sustainability so the whole green building movement is very much consistent with what we were doing even before there was a green building movement or an LEED certification,” President Keith Koenig said.
In addition, today’s consumer values companies that do the right thing, both socially and environmentally, he said.
A City Furniture location is currently under construction next to an existing store at 18780 S. Dixie Highway in Cutler Bay. Upon completion, City Furniture will open in the new location, and the existing store will be transformed into an Ashley Furniture HomeStore . City Furniture is the Ashley Furniture HomeStore licensee for southeast and southwest Florida.
An Ashley Furniture HomeStore is also under construction at Federal Highway and Northeast 38th Street in Oakland Park, and construction of an Ashley Furniture adjacent to an existing City Furniture showroom in West Palm Beach is to begin in August.
With the new stores, City Furniture plans to create about 60 additional jobs by 2013.
The company has strategically placed City Furniture locations next to Ashley Furniture HomeStores because consumers can then “drive once, shop twice,” Koenig said.
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Source: www.bizjournals.com
Vandals target pupils’ Diamond Jubilee artwork - The Bolton News
Vandals target pupils’ Diamond Jubilee artwork
8:42am Monday 4th June 2012 in Local
VANDALS ripped down children’s artwork celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee — just hours after it was put on display.
Paintings and collages marking the occasion were tied to railings at Astley Bridge Park, in Moss Bank Way, on Friday evening in time for the Bank Holiday weekend. They had been created by pupils at primary and secondary schools in the area in a project organised by Astley Bridge Area Forum.
But the cable ties securing several pieces of artwork were cut overnight.
Astley Bridge councillor, Hilary Fairclough, said: “The artwork looked splendid. It was a real array of views of what the young people thought of the Jubilee.
“This should be a time of celebration and the children put such a lot of effort into the artwork.
“It’s shocking that someone has cut the cable ties, especially so soon after the artwork was put up. I’m very disappointed.”
Cllr Fairclough and fellow ward councillors returned to the park on Saturday morning to reattach the paintings.
She added: “We have secured the artwork again with more robust ties and contacted the police to ask them to keep an eye on the work when they are in the area.”
Taking part in the project were pupils from High Lawn, Sharples, The Oaks, St Paul’s and Holy Infants primary schools, along with those from Thornleigh Salesian College and Sharples High School.
The artwork will remain on display until tomorrow and each school will receive a voucher from the area forum to put towards an art project.
Source: www.theboltonnews.co.uk
City Furniture Opens First Store in $17 Million Expansion - Business Wire
MIAMI--(City Furniture has opened the first of five stores in its tri-county expansion – the newly transformed Dadeland showroom in the Miami market.
)--Revealing results of a $3.5 million “extreme makeover,”“Today’s customers want a shopping experience that inspires their imagination, delivers outstanding quality for the price – and reflects a company’s lasting values. They research first online and expect a ‘wow’ factor when they invest time to visit a store.”
With business on the upswing as the economy improves, City Furniture President Keith Koenig said South Florida’s top-selling furniture retailer is launching construction of additional stores to dramatically increase sales in proven locations. Construction begins this month for Cutler Bay and Oakland Park stores. The company added 25 permanent jobs in connection with the Dadeland store and will add about 60 more firmwide by early 2013, Koenig said.
City Furniture’s highest performing location per square foot, the Dadeland showroom is one of the nation’s “greenest” furniture stores and brings City Furniture’s upscale next- generation store design into sharp focus for consumers.
“Consumers’ tastes and expectations are changing fast, and our next-generation design reflects that reality,” Koenig explained. “Today’s customers want a shopping experience that inspires their imagination, delivers outstanding quality for the price – and reflects a company’s lasting values. They research first online and expect a ‘wow’ factor when they invest time to visit a store.”
To meet those expectations, City Furniture is reinventing its store environments and introduced a new website this spring. While City Furniture’s exceptional value for the price and same-day delivery are unchanged, the store design features a host of energy efficient features. Each store in the expansion is being built to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, as an extension of City Furniture’s values and sustainable practices. Nationwide, only a handful of furniture stores have achieved LEED certification.
At the Dadeland store, a dramatic 27-foot-high central atrium (photo) adds eye appeal, along with richly textured “green” materials such as a cherry Hitchcock panel wall (photo) made with reclaimed wood, and natural stone feature walls with recycled Italian stone. Energy- and water-saving features include LED lighting and a super high efficiency HVAC system, plus drip irrigation and environmentally sound paints, coatings, adhesives, carpet and flooring.
At each new South Florida location, the company builds on the success of its City Furniture/Ashley Furniture HomeStore superstore concept. City Furniture is the Ashley Furniture HomeStore licensee in southeast and southwest Florida and has had strong results offering the two brands in adjoining stores. Once the Cutler Bay store is completed, the site’s existing City Furniture store will be transformed as an adjacent Ashley Furniture HomeStore. In the Fort Lauderdale market, an Ashley Furniture HomeStore will be built, and a fully renovated City Furniture store is a few doors north. Construction of a new Ashley Furniture HomeStore in West Palm Beach begins in August.
The retailer operates 14 City Furniture and nine Ashley Furniture HomeStore locations in Florida. For information visit www.cityfurniture.com.
Source: eon.businesswire.com
Furniture Row Racing display strength after early accident - 9News
DOVER, Del. - The monster crushed them early, but Regan Smith and the Furniture Row Racing team got off the mat and muscled their way back to a 27th-place finish after falling more than 90 laps down as a result of a Lap 9 multicar wreck in Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Dover International Speedway.
As the 43-car field was getting settled in at Dover's Monster Mile, a flurry of spins and crashes erupted on the daunting all-concrete oval, which included Smith's No. 78 Furniture Row/CSX Play it Safe Chevrolet.
The 12-car wreckfest started when Tony Stewart and Landon Cassill made contact coming out of Turn 2. Smith, who was trailing Stewart, ran out of real estate and rammed into Stewart's Chevy, causing a chain reaction.
Smith initially took the blame, but Stewart quickly countered and acquitted Smith of any wrongdoing.
"It wasn't Regan's fault -- he was right behind us and he didn't have anywhere to go," Stewart said. "The No. 83 (Cassill) was trying to get back down to the bottom and we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
After Smith drove his heavily-damaged car to the garage for lengthy repairs he gave his view on what happened.
"I got into the back of the No. 14 (Stewart) and started the whole thing," Smith said, who qualified 26th. "I will take full blame for that. Somehow they got checked up in front of me. I just didn't have time to slow up. I hate that there are so many wrecked race cars here. It's not fun for anybody, especially my guys on the Furniture Row/CSX Play it Safe Chevy."
The wreck, which was the biggest of the season, forced NASCAR to red-flag the race for nearly 20 minutes.
When the red flag was lifted the Furniture Row Racing crew went to work to repair the crippled race car. Within 45 minutes of the gold medal performance by the crew Smith returned to action, positioned in 37th place. He went on to gain 10 additional spots even though he finished the race 94 laps down.
"What is really shocking is to finish that many laps down and still post a 27th-place result," said Smith. "Though I am disappointed to get knocked out of contention early, I am proud of this Furniture Row Racing team for their hard and talented work to get me back on the track."
The finish dropped Smith from 23rd to 25th in the driver point standings. He is one point out of 24th and 10 out of 23rd.
"All I can say is that I am leaving Dover with a lot of pride due to how hard this entire race team worked to salvage a 27th-place finish today," Furniture Row crew chief Pete Rondeau said.
The FedEx 400 race winner was Jimmie Johnson. Rounding out the top-10 in order were: Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Kasey Kahne and Marcos Ambrose.
The race saw one red flag and seven cautions for 32 laps. There were 17 lead changes among seven drivers.
The next Cup race is Sunday (June 10) at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa.
(KUSA-TV © 2012 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)
Source: www.9news.com
Artwork's long journey home ends desert mystery - Sydney Morning Herald
Lost and found: The missing painting will be removed from sale after it was offered for auction as part of the late American billionaire and philanthropist John W Kluge's estate. Photo: Joe Armao
A SIGNIFICANT Papunya Tula painting missing for more than 10 years has turned up at auction in Melbourne, and its journey — from hanging in a remote Northern Territory health service to yesterday’s withdrawal from sale as part of an American billionaire’s collection — is rockier than Uluru.
The work, catalogued as Old Tatump and Natuma Tjaltjarri (1915-1987), was last month identified by Melbourne-based curator John Kean, formerly arts adviser to Papunya Tula Artists and the interim administrator for Pintupi Homelands Health Service at Walungurru (or Kintore) community in the NT in the mid-80s.
Mr Kean says he commissioned the work, depicting the journey of the Pintupi and Luritja people from Papunya, where they unhappily lived from 1957 to 1981, to their homeland 530 kilometres west of Alice Springs, from artist Charlie Wartuma, a founder of Papunya.
The work was part of the late American billionaire and philanthropist John W. Kluge’s collection being sold tomorrow night through Mossgreen Auctions to benefit Columbia University, where Mr Kluge studied. It will now be repatriated to the health service for its historic, not financial, worth.
Dubious sales have plagued this important art movement, and establishing provenance remains the most challenging issue facing the indigenous Australian art market today — and this painting, despite the happy ending, is no exception.
Several weeks ago, Mr Kean was showing a slide of the large acrylic on plywood story board during a lecture at the Victorian Arts Centre, explaining it had disappeared 10 years ago, when a member of the audience told him it was in the latest Mossgreen catalogue under a different title.
Mr Kean, who believes it is the work he commissioned despite the title difference, alerted Mossgreen’s indigenous art specialist, Shaun Dennison, and Pintupi Health Service board.
Mr Dennison traced the provenance and the Pintupi Health Service board wrote to Columbia University explaining the work’s historic significance, requesting the work’s donation.
Mr Dennison says he believes the painting’s disappearance from the health service goes back further. Documentation shows it was purchased by the Mr Kluge in 1996.
Mr Dennison cites four prior owners – a ranger in the Kintore area, Peter Bartlett; Yuendumu community dealer Peter Van Groesen; Kimberly Art director Peter Harrison; and the Museum Art International Adelaide director, David Cossey.
Mr Kean said last night that discussions he had had with senior health worker at Pintupi Health Service, Marlene Nampitjinpa, and board member, Tommy Conway, indicated that the painting had been “illegally taken” from the health service.
Mrs Nampitjinpa, who still works at the health service, says “it must have been wrapped in a blanket at night time and taken away”.
Source: www.smh.com.au
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