WORTHINGTON -- The associates at Worthington's newest store hope to make furnishing a home as easy as one, two, three.
Furnish 123 is now open for business in the former Family Dollar store at the corner of Oxford Street and Humiston Avenue. The store is the first to bring a new concept in furniture sales to the region. Fewer than 15 Furnish 123 stores are now open across the country.
"This is a new concept by Ashley furniture that was conceived at the beginning of the year, in January at the Las Vegas furniture market," explained Cory Price, district manager for Furniture Outlets USA, which operates the Furniture Mart, Unclaimed Freight and Ashley Furniture Home stores in Sioux Falls, S.D. "The idea is to show multiple colored sofas and all the dining and sectionals and have them be primarily one price. ... If they find a style they like, a color that fits them, they can put it all together at one price."
"It's shopping made simple," added store manager Craig Bowen. "We've got a rack of rugs and a selection of lamps that are all $99.99, pillows that are all $9.99, so we make it easy for people to put together a room grouping with help from our associates."
The Furniture Outlets USA owners had contemplated opening a store in Worthington for quite some time and decided the Furnish 123 concept was a good fit for the community. Within just a few weeks, the Worthington building was cleaned and remodeled with new flooring and paint to provide a backdrop for a selection of sofas, chairs, dinette sets, bedroom sets and accessories. After a customer chooses a style and color, the item will be delivered from the Furniture Outlets USA warehouse within a few days.
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"Obviously, the other thing is the Ashley lineup is so broad, so this is just a small amount of what the company stocks. We'll be able to show things to people online, too. We don't want folks to think what we have here is it," Bowen emphasized. "Cory has done a phenomenal job of selecting the items and put together what would be the best plan to open here."
While the major furniture pieces will need to be delivered, people in the market for a new mattress can walk out the door with one the same day, Bowen added.
"With the bedding, we've got seven or eight styles in stock," he said. "We say we've got 'one to show, one to go,' so people can go right home and put it together."
The Worthington location is the 30th store in the region for Furniture Outlets USA, and two more stores will open by the end of the year: a Furnish 123 in St. Paul; and a three-in-one store combining Furniture Mart, Ashley Home and Furnish 123 in St. Cloud.
"Cory doesn't let any grass grow under his feet," credited Bowen. "The owners are just awesome people, very community oriented."
In addition to Bowen, local staff members include sales associates Daniel Alaniz and Julie Krommendyk.
Furnish 123 is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
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