Gary Van Elslander, left, Art Van Furniture, Warren, with David Lee, Mikayla Lee, Lisa Lee, Taylor Lee and Art Van’s David Van Elslander at the opening of the Lee family’s newest Art Van Furniture franchise store in Cadillac, Mich.

David and Lisa Lee grand opened their third Art Van franchise store here last week, a 45,000-square-foot full-line showroom located at 8917 East 34 Road.

Festivities included a ribbon cutting with remarks from Art Van Furniture CEO Kim Yost, and continued through the weekend with giveaways and the chance to enter a $10,000 drawing for a home makeover, live music, refreshments and more.

“We were slammed,” for the grand opening, said Lisa Lee, co-owner, noting that the new store saw more than 350 people that day.

She declined to disclose sale projections, but said early sales were tracking well above expectations, adding the retailer experienced an “amazing response,” and did so without impact business at Art Van’s nearest corporate location in Traverse City, Mich.

The Lees were one of Art Van’s first franchisees, when they converted their Wendels Home & Design to Art Van in early 2013, following with their first (and Art Van’s first) Art Van PureSleep specialty franchise store in Midland, Mich., a few months later.

In Cadillac, the franchisee hired 31 full-time and part-time associates to staff the new store located in the Lakeland Shopping Center. The showroom features a PureSleep department, Art Van Clearance Center and Art’s Backyard Outdoor collection.

“As a Michigan company, we are proud to bring our stylish and affordable home décor to a new community in our home state,” Kim Yost, CEO of the Top 100 Art Van said in a statement. “At the same time, we are excited to create new career opportunities to job seekers in this thriving area.”

Art Van operates 60 Art Van furniture showrooms throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa and has 46 free standing Art Van PureSleep mattress stores. It also operates Art Van Flooring, Scott Shuptrine Interiors and Hillside Contemporary Furniture.

(Source: Furniture Today  Author: Clint Engel)