Clint Engel
KENT, Mich. — Top 100 chain American Signature has opened a new concept store here, replacing a nearby Value City showroom.

Rooms Today, in a former Target location at Kentwood Town Center, is “a step above the quality level that Value City Furniture carried because the

market really asked for it,” American Signature President David Thompson told The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press.

“It’s a nice area and we saw that the better-quality product sold well there,” he told the paper.

Thompson was out of the office today and couldn’t be reached for more information, including whether American Signature plans to roll out the Rooms Today concept to other markets.

In 2002, Value City opened its first American Signature store in Franklin, Tenn., which also was a step up from Value City. The company later changed its corporate name to American Signature. At the end of 2012, the Columbus, Ohio-based company had 111 stores, including 19 American Signature stores, doing an estimated $830 million in sales.

According to the Grand Rapids news story, the new Rooms Today store targets double-income young professionals with a Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn-like environment. The goods are “less-commodity-based” than Value City, which was operating at a nearby mall for the past 10 years, and there’s more focus on fashion and higher quality decorative components, accessories and fabrics, Thompson told the newspaper.

Bedroom groups range from $600 to $4,000 and sofas sell for $400 to $1,000.