Ashley finds success with tight product line

Henderson, Nev.— In the thriving Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, Michael Jedlowski's Ashley Furniture HomeStores is taking its share of the youth bedroom market and maybe a little more.

The 32,000-square-foot store on Marks Street is one of two (soon to be three) that Jedlowski owns in the greater Las Vegas market. About 3,000 square feet near the back of the store is dedicated to youth, which also accounts for about 10% of the store's sales.

It's a tightly edited mix of four bedroom collections with an emphasis on full-size beds — all from Ashley, of course. The collections are colorfully accessorized with affordable textiles from California Kids and Eastern Accents, and lamps, wall art floral, rugs and other accents from a variety of suppliers including Creative Images, Somerset, D&W Silks, Ganz, Dream Weavers, Hellenic Rug and Austin. The Deep Sleep bedding is from Simmons.

The youth bedroom department is by far the most colorful area of the store, with bold paint colors and murals on the vignette walls and five televisions tuned to cartoons.

There is no infant merchandise, and even the youth bedroom collections are targeted more toward the young adult and early teen versus a younger juvenile set.

Twin beds are priced from $198 to $398 and the store is strong all across that narrow range, said Bill Bedore, who leads corporate special projects for all of Jedlowski's 12 Ashley stores. The same is true of its loft bed offerings from $598 to $798.

"We don't have a broad range," Bedore said. Ashley feels its strength is in the value it can offer across this limited price spectrum, he said.

Asked what makes the youth program successful, Bedore said the honest answer is that Ashley dictates everything to precision. It focuses strictly on the best it can offer to that mass middle market, and "it works perfectly," he said.

Another competitive advantage for the store is its ability to delivery quickly, Bedore said, though he's not talking next day or even this-week delivery, like some of its competitors. Ashley Furniture HomeStores typically quotes two to four weeks out, "but in a perfect world we can get it to them in 10 days," Bedore said.

That seems to be plenty soon enough for the average Las Vegas consumer, he said, noting the building boom under way in the market and how consumers are often shopping for furniture while waiting for construction of their home to be completed, so they're not ready for delivery anyway.

Furniture typically is the third largest purchase in a consumer's lifetime, Bedore added. "They wait for a car. They'll wait for a house and they'll wait (10 days to four weeks) for furniture," he said.

Ashley's Quintessentials captures youthful magic with a clean maple finish and rich denim blue tops for a two-toned design. The bedding is from California Kids, wall art from Creative Images and greenery from D&W Silks.

A vignette of Ashley's best-selling soft country Cottage Retreat collection — the full sleigh bed retails for $348 — is dressed up with bedding from Eastern Accents.