04122015 Nebraska Furniture Mart Debuts in Dallas

THE COLONY, TX - The buzz has been building over the past two months as vendors watched the 9,500-square foot rug department take shape at the new 560,000-foot Nebraska Furniture Mart at The Colony.  Some industry veterans dubbed it the "the ultimate rug department," because its 540 hanging rugs are merchandised the way consumers want to shop: By color. Other vendors said the volume of rug department traffic they witnessed during the store's soft opening in recent weeks was unprecedented.

David Snedeker, Nebraska Furniture Mart's division merchandise manager-flooring, confirms that rugs displayed by color have made a big difference, and sales are already indicating Dallas-Fort Worth will be an extremely good market for rugs. He also says the spectacular rug department is designed to appeal to a broad swath of consumers and "hopefully has something for everyone."

"We have a large number of rugs on display in price points from $10 to $20,000, and we have a good mix of youth, indoor/outdoor, traditional and transitional," he explained. "The Texas rug department is about twice as big as our Omaha store's and slightly larger than the Kansas City rug department.  Over 3,000 rugs are on display, either in the department or under furniture settings throughout the store," Snedeker said. While merchandised by color in the hanging section, rugs shown on more than 45 platforms are primarily displayed by theme (flat-weaves, geometrics, traditional, etc.). Platforms include sizes up to 10x14, runners and rounds. 

Industry insiders got a sneak peek at the expansive department last Thursday while attending the Live Big Benefit, a fundraiser held at the store to support Cancer Support Community of North Texas.  Filled with natural light, the rug department is upfront in the 40,000-foot flooring department, which runs racetrack-style from the front to the back of the store.  The mix features comprehensive assortments of hard surface floor coverings and carpeting, in addition to rugs - which are also cross merchandised in the furniture department.

"We use several hundred rugs in a multitude of furniture settings to show off and hopefully sell our rugs," Snedeker told RugNews.com. Although a grand opening date has not been set, consumers are already getting a sense that NFM will be the price leader in its categories in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and Nebraska Furniture Mart management is projecting sales for this location at $600 million. 

Warren Buffett, the headliner for last week's charity event at The Colony, has famously gone on record in a FOX Business News interview with a projection that the Texas store will do $1 billion in annual sales. Both his and NFM's estimates indicate the company is expecting sales that will exceed those at any of the retailer's three other locations, which include Omaha, Des Moines and Kansas City. Nebraska Furniture Mart is a subsidiary of Buffett's conglomerate Berkshire-Hathaway, which owns three more furniture retailers, R.C. Willey, Star Furniture and Jordan's in addition to businesses in other fields.

04.12.15