Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. Announces Expansion Plans

Furniture World Magazine

Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. (NYSE: HVT and HVT.A) announced plans that include opening eight new retail showrooms and the expansion of a key distribution center by the end of 2001. Six of the new showrooms will be constructed utilizing Havertys' most recent refinements to its store presentation. These new stores will be slightly larger and feature curvilinear architectural elements, customer friendly merchandise layout, and a more "home" oriented interior with a warmer color palette. Many of the new design elements were utilized in Havertys' Mall of Georgia store near Atlanta that opened in August 1999. The first of the new stores will open in December and will be located in the northern suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina, bringing Havertys' store count to three in that major metropolitan market. Havertys is also expanding its presence in Texas with all four new stores incorporating the improved design elements. A store near Stone Creek Mall in the suburb of Frisco will open in the next three months. This area is in the fast growing northern section of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and will be the Company's eleventh location in this market. A new store near Lakeline Mall in north Austin, that market's second location, will open in the first quarter of 2001. Havertys will also expand into a new market, San Antonio, with two new stores opening in the fourth quarter of 2001. The opening of these new stores will result in a total of twenty-two stores in Texas. Havertys' distribution center in Dallas will be expanded during 2001 to a total of 366,000 square feet to service this and other projected growth within its potential delivery reach. The Florida markets also continue to be a focus for expansion. Havertys is entering the Ft. Walton area in November 2000, remodeling the showroom of a former furniture retailer. This will enable Havertys to leverage its distribution infrastructure and advertising in the Pensacola, Mobile, Alabama, and Gulf Coast area. In Sarasota, Havertys will close its existing store and move into a former Roberds location on Tamiami Trail. The move to this remodeled showroom, which will double Havertys' retail square footage in the market, will occur by year end. The new store design will also be employed in Naples as Havertys replaces a smaller showroom with a store twice its size slated to open in the second quarter of 2001. In addition to the roll out of the Havertys stores, a second La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries store operated by Havertys opened on September 27, 2000. This store in the Hickory Hill area of Memphis, Tennessee is in addition to the existing La-Z-Boy store in the Cordova suburb. The expansions and closures will generate approximately 138,000 additional retail square feet in 2000 and 183,000 square feet in 2001 or increases of 4.0% and 4.3% for the years, respectively. The resulting planned number of retail locations at the end of 2000 and 2001 are 105 and 108. John Slater, President and CEO, said, "These expansion plans demonstrate our confidence in the strategy to increase Havertys presence in our best markets and to take advantage of new opportunities that we can leverage with existing infrastructure. The continued strong growth of our Texas region will be served by the expansion of the distribution center in Dallas, with room to accommodate opportunities that may arise." Havertys is a full-service home furnishings retailer with 102 showrooms in 14 southern and central states providing its customers with a wide selection of quality merchandise in middle- to upper-middle price ranges. Additional information is available on the Company's website at http://www.havertys.com.