Founded 1958 | ||
Roomful express furniture stores going out of business
Roomful Express Furniture was a Pittsburgh-area furniture retailer. The company was founded in 1958 by Robert Kuhn as Freight Liquidators for the original purpose of importing Italian furniture and then reselling it to independent dealers. The company evolved from a third-party distributor that was centrally based in a warehouse on Pittsburgh's North Side into a "big box" furniture store by purchasing stock from one of its primary customers, Gimbels Department Store. The first stand-alone store was opened in 1973. The company now has annual sales of around $78 million and employs 350.
In 2000, the company adopted the Roomful Express name after flat sales were blamed on its Freight Liquidators name, which the owners felt did not accurately reflect the business of the corporation. After the name change, the company promoted itself on the concept of buyers being able to choose a theme for a room by selecting from the store's sold-by-the-piece items. The company's main offices are in the Pittsburgh suburb of Crafton, Pennsylvania. Nine stores are located in Western Pennsylvania, plus one in St. Clairsville, Ohio. Along with national big box chains, the company's main local competitor is Levin Furniture.
On December 8, 2010 Roomful Express announced its going-out-of-business sale.