...Bob's Discount Furniture takes on a major expansion

Published on 9/7/2005

Norwich - The president of the ever-growing Bob's Discount Furniture has pasted his name and face on nearly 200 trucks that carry furniture to 22 stores and thousands of customers' homes throughout the Northeast. His intentionally amateurish commercials are ubiquitous on local TV stations....

[Bob] Kaufman ... started Bob's Discount Furniture in 1991 and has expanded it every year since. Last year, Bob's moved from 34th to 32nd in the ranking of the nation's top furniture stores with 25.9 percent growth over the previous year...

Last week Kaufman sold the sprawling warehouse and distribution center at 70 Jewett City Road for $9.8 million to W.P. Carey & Co. LLC, a national firm that specializes in buyouts and lease-backs to companies wishing to raise cash and rid themselves of property-management responsibilities. W.P. Carey, under the local name BOBS (CT) QRS 16-25, Inc., will take over the expense of the two massive expansion projects, one under way and one planned, at the 20-acre Taftville distribution center. It will then lease the warehouse space to Bob's. No rent figure was released...

With the property sale, Bob's Discount Furniture received a $62 million mortgage that will finance a continuing expansion throughout the Northeast. Two new stores in New Jersey are set to open Dec. 26 and next President's Day. Kaufman said he plans to “fill in” gaps in the greater Boston market and said Long Island is another likely location for new stores, adding that he has had many inquiries about opening operations there.

Kaufman spent time last week in New Jersey filming commercials in preparation for the new store openings. Cheeky and produced as frugally as the furniture Kaufman sells, the commercials of late have included a new face. The perky blonde woman seen questioning just how Kaufman can offer such great deals is Cathy Poulin of Hebron, a longtime friend whose father, James Horan, was principal at the Kelly Middle School in Norwich for many years.

“She's great, isn't she?” he said, displaying that characteristic smile. “We wanted to add a new face to the ads.”

Kaufman spends most Tuesdays at the Taftville complex in construction and planning meetings. Construction has been virtually non-stop since he purchased the property in 1997 for nearly $3.8 million from Household International, Inc. The property once housed factories for Thermos and part of the Ponemah Mill textile complex.

Kaufman built what he thought was an ample 300,000-square-foot warehouse and partial furniture assembly facility there. But the three-story-high storage racks soon filled to capacity. In 2000, he designed and built a 72,000-square-foot expansion. As soon as it opened, he started looking for more warehouse space. For further expansion, Kaufman targeted the sprawling, vacant land behind the distribution center where the former Artistic Wire plant burned in a spectacular arson fire four decades ago...