El Dorado Furniture Opens Calle Ocho Boulevard

Business Wire, Jan 27, 2003

Business Editors

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 27, 2003

The Eighth El Dorado Store Marks the Company's Return to its Initial Miami Site; Weeklong Festivities Will Commemorate the Opening

El Dorado Furniture officially opens its eighth retail store, Calle Ocho Boulevard, on February 1st on the same block where the company initially started in 1967, in the heart of Little Havana.

"The opening of Calle Ocho Boulevard has a special, almost reverent, meaning to us," said Manuel Capo, founder and chief executive officer of El Dorado. "Thirty-six years ago, I started a small store with two of my sons on the corner of this block. Now the Boulevard extends over the whole block. This is a great source of pride for us: it is testament to our family's unity and hard work - and to the devotion and hard work of the 700 hundred employees who join us to make up the whole El Dorado family."

The Calle Ocho El Dorado Boulevard capitalizes on the thematic environment that has proven such a major success for the store: A central main street, called the Boulevard complete with park benches and street lights, opens into individual specialized furniture stores featuring various styles of furniture collections and accessories. The Calle Ocho Boulevard of 40,000 square feet features 12 stores. Featured showrooms include: the Gallery, showcasing sumptuous furniture collections; Carlo Perazzi, El Dorado's signature contemporary furniture collection; and the Pirate's Cove that displays furniture specially designed for kids, among others.

The new Boulevard store will generate 60 new jobs in Miami-Dade County.

El Dorado will celebrate the grand opening of Calle Ocho Boulevard with weeklong festivities. The celebration includes a series of previews on January 23rd, 28th and 30th, for city and county elected officials; business associates and furniture industry associates respectively. The January 30th event features the official ribbon-cutting ceremony to which all media is invited. The event takes place from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. The store will officially open to the public on February 1st at 10:00 a.m. The Calle Ocho Boulevard is located at 2475 SW 8th St. The telephone number is 305-642-4355.

El Dorado Furniture is the largest Hispanic-owned retail enterprise in the U.S. Founded in 1967, El Dorado Furniture owns and operates eight retail stores in Miami Dade and Broward Counties, Fla. Its projected sales for 2003 are $150 million. It is wholly owned by the Capo family: father Manuel and his seven sons hold executive positions at the corporation. For information on El Dorado Furniture, please call (305) 624-9700 or visit (http://www.eldoradofurniture.com).