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MIKE ALBERT, the president of Pilgrim Furniture City, based in Southington, has brought in two partners, Steve Bichunsky and David Bassett, with long retail experience. Pilgrim has opened a new store in Milford and will open another new one, in Manchester, next year. (MARK MIRKO/HARTFORD COURANT / October 13, 2009) |
Mike Albert has never starred in any television commercials for Pilgrim Furniture City, and the word "busted" is probably the last one this buttoned-down businessman would use to describe his competition.
The president of the Southington-based furniture retailer and his two partners, Steve Bichunsky and David Bassett, take a more reserved approach to selling what Albert calls "fashionable, moderately priced" furnishings. And from the looks of it, the approach is working.
In an economy that has brought down far mightier retailers, Pilgrim is growing. Early next year, the company plans to open a 72,600-square-foot store in Manchester — its third. Little more than a year ago, Pilgrim opened a second store in Milford — a $5 million renovation that transformed a former printing plant into an 80,000 square-foot, environmentally friendly furniture showplace.
Instead of undercutting his competition, Albert forms alliances with them.
To make the leap from the traditional 30,000-square-foot Plainville showroom in 2001 to the company's Southington headquarters — a former Levitz Furniture warehouse more than three times that size — Albert partnered with Bichunsky, a third-generation retailer who, like Albert, learned the business from his father. Bichunsky's family owned Meriden Auction Rooms for 75 years.
To open the Milford store, Albert and Bichunsky collaborated with David Rubin, a developer and a relative of the former owners of Wayside Furniture in Milford, and Gerry Burdo, the owner of another Milford furniture store.
When Albert and Bichunsky joined forces with Bassett, he brought 19 years of experience with Lane Home Furnishings as well as working in his family's furniture business, Scott Wayside, outside Boston.
With Bichunsky in charge of buying, Albert turned his focus to finding opportunities for growth. Instead of being beaten by the economy, Albert leveraged it.
The long-pondered move east — where "people certainly do hear our advertisements" — was made possible, he said, by the "favorable leases" he was able to negotiate with Emmes Asset Management, the owner of Burr Corners, the Manchester shopping plaza where the new store will open in what is now a VF Outlet store.
When the recession hit as they were opening the Milford store, employees from the Southington store were sent to staff it, helping the company avert major layoffs.
"The costs got spread over two stores," Albert said. "We gained a lot of efficiencies."
Pilgrim has 95 employees working in Milford and Southington; the Southington location also houses a warehouse and the company distribution facility. There is talk of adding up to 30 employees once the Manchester store opens, Albert said.
Albert would not release annual sales data, but said sales overall are eight times what they were when the company moved from Plainville in 2001. After a growth spurt in the first few years, he said, "it has leveled off but it is still stable."
Despite the downturn, people are buying furniture, Albert said.
There's a carousel and a movie theater in the Southington store; that store and the one in Milford each has a café. But it's the size of the showrooms and the fact that "most days, almost seven days a week," he and Bichunsky are in the building, that keeps customers coming to Pilgrim, he said.
That and the recognition, even before the recession, that medium-priced, mostly Chinese-made furniture is looking more and more like the high-end stuff.
"It's hard to tell the difference," Albert said.
The president of the Southington-based furniture retailer and his two partners, Steve Bichunsky and David Bassett, take a more reserved approach to selling what Albert calls "fashionable, moderately priced" furnishings. And from the looks of it, the approach is working.
In an economy that has brought down far mightier retailers, Pilgrim is growing. Early next year, the company plans to open a 72,600-square-foot store in Manchester — its third. Little more than a year ago, Pilgrim opened a second store in Milford — a $5 million renovation that transformed a former printing plant into an 80,000 square-foot, environmentally friendly furniture showplace.
Instead of undercutting his competition, Albert forms alliances with them.
To make the leap from the traditional 30,000-square-foot Plainville showroom in 2001 to the company's Southington headquarters — a former Levitz Furniture warehouse more than three times that size — Albert partnered with Bichunsky, a third-generation retailer who, like Albert, learned the business from his father. Bichunsky's family owned Meriden Auction Rooms for 75 years.
To open the Milford store, Albert and Bichunsky collaborated with David Rubin, a developer and a relative of the former owners of Wayside Furniture in Milford, and Gerry Burdo, the owner of another Milford furniture store.
When Albert and Bichunsky joined forces with Bassett, he brought 19 years of experience with Lane Home Furnishings as well as working in his family's furniture business, Scott Wayside, outside Boston.
With Bichunsky in charge of buying, Albert turned his focus to finding opportunities for growth. Instead of being beaten by the economy, Albert leveraged it.
The long-pondered move east — where "people certainly do hear our advertisements" — was made possible, he said, by the "favorable leases" he was able to negotiate with Emmes Asset Management, the owner of Burr Corners, the Manchester shopping plaza where the new store will open in what is now a VF Outlet store.
When the recession hit as they were opening the Milford store, employees from the Southington store were sent to staff it, helping the company avert major layoffs.
"The costs got spread over two stores," Albert said. "We gained a lot of efficiencies."
Pilgrim has 95 employees working in Milford and Southington; the Southington location also houses a warehouse and the company distribution facility. There is talk of adding up to 30 employees once the Manchester store opens, Albert said.
Albert would not release annual sales data, but said sales overall are eight times what they were when the company moved from Plainville in 2001. After a growth spurt in the first few years, he said, "it has leveled off but it is still stable."
Despite the downturn, people are buying furniture, Albert said.
There's a carousel and a movie theater in the Southington store; that store and the one in Milford each has a café. But it's the size of the showrooms and the fact that "most days, almost seven days a week," he and Bichunsky are in the building, that keeps customers coming to Pilgrim, he said.
That and the recognition, even before the recession, that medium-priced, mostly Chinese-made furniture is looking more and more like the high-end stuff.
"It's hard to tell the difference," Albert said.