TREND SETTERS: Home furnishings retailers cluster in an industrial center visible from I-215.


By JONATHAN SHIKES
The Press-Enterprise
Thomas Phu didn’t plan to redecorate the corner Alessandro Boulevard and Interstate 215 when he opened Madison Home Furnishing a year ago.
However, the Riverside store, with its bright red sign and freeway-side visibility, attracted customers, competitors and like-minded businesses that quickly turned the industrial area into a new destination for people building or remodeling homes.
In the year since Madison took over its 50,000-square-foot warehouse and showroom at 7260 Sycamore Canyon Blvd., at least three other furniture stores have opened in the same business park, along with two interior design stores.
“Once Madison got there, it seemed like everybody and his brother contacted us,” said developer Jim Guthrie, whose company built the business park.
To accommodate its development, the city rezoned the land northwest of the Alessandro exit in late 2012 to allow for retail sales as long as it accompanied a showroom and a warehouse, said Riverside senior planner Clara Miramontes.
“It wasn’t necessarily planned,” added Tricia Hinckley, business development coordinator for the city. However, the location, freeway access and proximity to quickly growing residential areas made it attractive to furniture warehouses.
There is one 34,000-square- foot building still not leased, but Lee & Associates broker Vic Onorio doubts it will be a furniture dealer.
“Once you put all those furniture stores into one spot, the other ones get a little nervous,” he said.
Christine Lines, operations manager for Western Floor Decorating, which recently took 7,500 square feet nearby, said the freeway access and proximity to several highways made it the best location she could find in Southern California.
The Escondido-based company sells concrete counter tops and decorative concrete flooring and stains catering to people who are remodeling, Lines said.
Business at Madison has slowed since the other furniture stores opened, said Phu, the manager and part owner of the store, which has another location in Corona. However, he thinks it will pick up, especially with all home building going on nearby.
“I think it’s good,” he said. “It’s like a furniture row. Now when consumers want to think about furniture, they know where they want to come.”
It’s like an auto mall for furniture, said Steve Borst, co-owner of Partner’s Home Décor, which moved into a 20,000-square-foot building shortly after Madison.
“Now that the center is four furniture stores wide, it will be great for customers,” he said, comparing it to another furniture row off Los Alamos Road in Murrieta.
Partner’s, which has been family owned since 1959, has a second location in Temecula and another store, B&B Auctions, in Moreno Valley.
Reach Jonathan Shikes at 951-368-9552 or jshikes@PE.com