Storey Kenworthy targets new type of buyer

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Storey-Kenworthy Co., the 67-year-old office supplies and furniture retailer, is betting it can boost sales and win new customers by focusing on cost-conscious buyers.

The company, the state’s largest family-owned office interior and products business, earlier this month opened a new retailing center called Business Furniture Warehouse in a cavernous building along Meredith Drive near Interstate 35-80 in Urbandale.

The new store will sell a wide range of used furniture at a variety of price levels, including chairs that run from $29 to $600 for a leather version for executives. In offering display space for used furniture, Storey-Kenworthy is taking a risk on a concept that hasn’t yet been tried in the state.

“It’s a product category that isn’t being served by anyone in Iowa,” said Dave Kenworthy, president of Storey-Kenworthy.

Founded in 1936, Storey-Kenworthy has expanded to five Iowa locations outside Des Moines: Ames, Fort Dodge, Mason City, Decorah and Spirit Lake. It has about 100 workers.

Because Business Furniture Warehouse opened June 1, it’s too soon to estimate the level of demand there will be for used office furniture. But Kenworthy points to the current budget problems experienced by state and local governments and cost-cutting measures taken by businesses as evidence moderately priced furniture is likely to be wanted.

“People are looking for a good value product,” he said.

The move represents another step in Storey-Kenworthy’s continued expansion in Greater Des Moines. The company sells and markets office furniture made by HON Industries Inc. and its Allsteel unit. It also sells furniture and office products make by Steelcase through its WorkSpace Inc. subsidiary. Storey-Kenworthy’s flagship store in Des Moines is located at 1333 Ohio St. WorkSpace is located at 309 Locust St.

The company also recently moved its Ames location from Main Street to a 12,000-square-foot retail and warehouse building at 424 S. Bell Ave.

Business managers, designers and others who buy office furniture often make their choices based on pictures in a catalog because office furniture is too bulky and expensive for retailers to keep large quantities in stock and on display.

In opening Business Furniture Warehouse, Storey-Kenworthy hopes to overcome those challenges.

The new business is located in a building that resembles a warehouse more than a traditional retail store. The walls are concrete and there is no carpeting on the floor. The building is 36,000 square feet, enough room to display dozens of desks, chairs, shelving systems and other office-related furniture products.

“This isn’t a glamorous setting, but it is where you’re going to find good buys,” said Gordon Cheeseman, partner at WorkSpace.

Business Furniture Warehouse also gives Storey-Kenworthy an outlet to continue to build its furniture management business. That business provides inventory space for corporate customers that have extra furniture and need a place to store it.

Another advantage to the business, which Storey-Kenworthy calls asset management, is organization. Companies often don’t know how much office furniture they have or where it’s located. Storey-Kenworthy uses bar-code scanners to organize the furniture. In addition, it can help customers move the furniture.

Storey-Kenworthy is in the process of moving furniture that is associated with its furniture management business from other areas in Des Moines. The company owns or leases a total of 100,000 square feet of space in Greater Des Moines, Cheeseman said.

With that space, Kenworthy is hopeful that it can draw customers from across Central Iowa.