Inter IKEA Systems B.V., trading as IKEA, is a Swedish multinational conglomerate that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen appliances, decoration, home accessories, and various other goods and home services. Started in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad and currently legally headquartered in the Netherlands, IKEA has been the world's largest furniture retailer since 2008. The brand used by the group is derived from an acronym that consists of the founder's initials, and those of Elmtaryd, the family farm where he was born, and the nearby village Agunnaryd.
Shopping is an activity in which a customer browses the available goods or services presented by one or more retailers with the potential intent to purchase a suitable selection of them. A typology of shopper types has been developed by scholars which identifies one group of shoppers as recreational shoppers, that is, those who enjoy shopping and view it as a leisure activity.
A discount store or discounter offers a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down costs.
Consumers Distributing was a catalogue store in Canada and the United States that operated from 1957 to 1996. At its peak, the company operated 243 outlets in Canada and 217 in the United States, including stores in every province in Canada and in the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, California and Nevada.
A big-box store is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The term "big-box" references the typical appearance of buildings occupied by such stores.
MFI Group Limited was a British furniture retailer, operating under the MFI brand. The company was one of the largest suppliers of kitchens and bedroom furniture in the United Kingdom, and operated mainly in retail parks in out of town locations. Anecdotally, it was said at one stage that one in three Sunday lunches in the United Kingdom were cooked in a kitchen from MFI, and 60% of British children were conceived in a bedroom from MFI.
Service Merchandise was a retail chain of catalog showrooms carrying jewelry, toys, sporting goods and electronics. The company, which first began in 1934 as a five-and-dime store, was in existence for 68 years before ceasing operations in 2002.
A catalog merchant is a form of retailing. The typical merchant sells a wide variety of household and personal products, with many emphasizing jewelry. Unlike a self-serve retail store, most of the items are not displayed; customers select the products from printed catalogs in the store and fill out an order form. The order is brought to the sales counter, where a clerk retrieves the items from the warehouse area to a payment and checkout station.
Heal's is a British furniture retail company comprising seven stores, selling a range of furniture, lighting and home accessories. In 2001, a guide published in association with the Victoria & Albert Museum wrote that for over two centuries Heal's had been known for promoting modern design and for employing talented young designers.
Automatic Centre was the oldest appliance and electronics retail store in the Philippines. Started in 1948 by Benito Lim, the company had grown from a single store to a multiple store and multiple format retail operation.
Raymour & Flanigan is a family-owned American furniture retail chain, based in the Northeastern United States.
Designers Guild is an international home and lifestyle company with a flagship store and showrooms on Kings Road and Marylebone High Street in London, as well as offices in London, Paris, and Munich.
Stollers is a British-based home furnishings retailer. It is located at Walney Road, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. It is currently one of the largest single site furniture stores in the country.
Wayfair Inc. is an American e-commerce company based in Boston, Massachusetts that sells furniture and home goods online. Formerly known as CSN Stores, it was founded in 2002, and currently offers 14 million items from more than 11,000 global suppliers. It has offices and warehouses throughout the United States and in Canada, Germany, Ireland, China and the United Kingdom.
Furnitureland South in Jamestown, North Carolina is the largest retail furniture store in the United States with 1.3 million square feet and $180 million in sales as of 2004. Called "the Walt Disney World of Furniture", the store is known for its 85-foot-tall highboy, and is the first of the group of stores which in 2004 came to be known as "Furniture Row" as well as "Gateway to the Furniture Capital of the World."
Loaf is a British company, which operates as a high street retailer. Charlie Marshall founded the retail brand, which was formerly known as The Sleep Room. Their showrooms are mainly focused around the London area.
Trump Home is a brand of furniture and home items initially marketed by American businessman and former President of the United States Donald Trump and owned by Trump's company, The Trump Organization.
The retail format influences the consumer's store choice and addresses the consumer's expectations. At its most basic level, a retail format is a simple marketplace, that is; a location where goods and services are exchanged. In some parts of the world, the retail sector is still dominated by small family-run stores, but large retail chains are increasingly dominating the sector, because they can exert considerable buying power and pass on the savings in the form of lower prices. Many of these large retail chains also produce their own private labels which compete alongside manufacturer brands. Considerable consolidation of retail stores has changed the retail landscape, transferring power away from wholesalers and into the hands of the large retail chains.
Barkers or Barkers Men's Clothing is a New Zealand menswear fashion brand and retail chain. It has 31 stores around the country, including 13 in Auckland. It was established in Auckland CBD in 1972, and is headquartered in Grafton, Auckland. The chain sells a range of men's clothing, including shirts, knitwear, pants, jeans, sweatshirts, jackets and coats, blazers, t-shirts, shorts, polo shirts, socks, ties and belts.
