The HOME Co. - Fine Furniture Direct Opens Its First Store At The Prime Outlets-San Marcos – 10 Factory Direct Outlets Under One Roof.

Furniture World Magazine

According to principals of The HOME Co., this new store will bring their customers a new way to shop for Fine Furniture and Decorative Home Accessories. Consistent with the demand for value that customers shopping in the Prime Outlets have demonstrated, The HOME CO. will offer the finest brand names in Home Furnishings at savings of 30-60% and more! It is planned to be the most enjoyable and exciting shopping experience that a customer may ever have! Customers will enjoy shopping the ten HOMES of The HOME Co. - Henredon HOME, Baker HOME, Ralph Lauren HOME, Hickory Chair HOME, Milling Road HOME, Relaxed HOME, Traditional HOME, Collectors HOME, Urban HOME, and HOME Essentials. Other brand names include Pennsylvania House, Hickory White, Vanguard, Sealy, Simmons, Lexington, and Lane. The HOME Co. will include 50+ furniture resources and 100+ accessory resources. The 65,000 sq. ft. The HOME Co. store anchors the first Home Furnishings Village at Prime Outlets - San Marcos, owned by Prime Retail. The Homefurnishings Village is projected to be 200,00 sq. ft. of home furnishings and decorative accessory product. Prime Retail is currently in the process of leasing the adjacent spaces. San Marcos is the first location for this project. The HOME Co. will employ up to 60 people for the San Marcos location. The second store, also anchoring a Prime Outlet Home Furnishings Village, is planned to open in March 2000 in Hagerstown, Md. Marvin Traub serves as the Chairman of the Board for The HOME Co. Mr. Traub held the position of President and C.E.O. of Bloomingdale's for 14 years. He continues his extensive retail involvement through considerable advisory positions. Stephen. K. McKee serves as the President and C.E.O. of The HOME Co. Mr. McKee spent the last twelve years with Gabberts Furniture and Design Studio of Minneapolis-St.Paul and Dallas-Ft. Worth. He served as the President and C.O.O. from 1995-1998. Joining Marvin Traub and Steve McKee is an excellent staff of experienced industry veterans: Steve Avitable -V.P. of Merchandising and Marketing, Britt Albright - Director of Visual Merchandising, and Sandra Standefer - Merchandise and Marketing Manager. Pam Hunt serves as the V.P. of Finance and Operations. Steve McKee enthusiastically claims "not only will home furnishings customers find value, they will find their home identity - when you spend as much as customers do for furniture, they want to enjoy the experience and be completely happy with their HOME. Our responsibility at The HOME Co. is to help them do just that." Stephen K. McKee President and C.E.O. : Steve most recently has been the President and C.O.O. for Gabberts Furniture and Design Studio. Located in the Minneapolis and Dallas-Ft. Worth markets, Gabberts operates three showrooms ranging in size from 70,000 sq. ft. - 150,000 sq. ft. ft. and one 20,000 sq. ft. Furniture Outlet in Dallas. They have annual retail sales of $115 million. Steve has been the President and C.O.O. for the past three years and had been at Gabberts for eleven years. Prior to assuming the role of C.O.O. responsibilities he held the positions of V.P. General Manager for the Texas market. Steve's other professional employment includes 12 years of department store experience having worked for Macy's New York, Federated Department Stores, and Allied Department Stores where he held merchandising responsibilities primarily in furniture and related home furnishings. Steve's retail experience and education started early, as his family owned a retail furniture business in Upstate New York. Steve has his Bachelor of Science in Business Economics from S.U.N.Y. at Oneconta. Steve and his wife, Peggy, have two daughters - Meghan and Lauren. Marvin S. Traub Chairman of the Board: Marvin S. Traub is the Senior Advisor for Financo, where his marketing, retail, and apparel background facilitates and advances client relationships, merger negotiations, consulting assignments, and marketing services. Mr. Traub also continues in his capacity as President of his marketing and consulting firms, Marvin Traub Associates, Inc., ("MTA"). MTA consults to domestic and international merchandising corporations about manufacturing, retailing, and strategic positioning. In addition to consulting, MTA makes equity investments in promising merchandising companies. Prior to creating MTA, Mr. Traub was Chairman and CEO of Bloomingdale's for 14 years, as well as, Vice Chairman and Director of Campeau Corporation and a Director of Federated Department Stores. Mr. Traub held various titles at Bloomingdale's from 1950 to 1991. Mr. Traub is the author of Like No Other Store, a combination of autobiography and look at the history of Bloomingdale's and American retailing. It was first published in 1993 by Random House and has since gone through two hardback and one paperback printing. Mr. Traub graduated from Harvard College Magna cum Maude in 1947 and Harvard Business School with Distinction in 1949.