Room & Board To Open Store in San Francisco; Furniture Retailer to Open in the Spring of 2005 in Response to Strong Demand from Bay-Area Customers

Business Wire, Sept 20, 2004

MINNEAPOLIS -- Room & Board, a Minneapolis-based furniture retailer offering unique home furnishings that combine classic, simple design and exceptional quality, announced today it will open a store in the heart of San Francisco in the spring of 2005.

The new store will be located at 685 7th Street on the corner of 7th and Townsend on the eastern edge of the Design Center complex. Room & Board purchased the 50,000 square foot, 1940's warehouse-style building and will use all three of its floors.

Room & Board has experienced a strong demand for its home furnishings in northern California, attracting more than 3,200 customers from the surrounding San Francisco area through its Shop From Home catalog and Web site businesses. The retailer has generated almost $10 million in San Francisco-based sales over the past three years.

Due to this strong demand and positive feedback from its northern California customers, Room & Board recognized San Francisco as the most appropriate market for its next destination store.

"We're very excited to bring Room & Board's unique furniture and retail philosophies to the San Francisco area," said John Gabbert, founder and president of Room & Board. "Due to the continued success of our Orange County store and outstanding response from northern California customers, we expect the new store will be well received. Our goal is to help our customers create homes that are beautiful, functional, comfortable and provide outlets for self-expression. We work closely with specialty manufacturers who share our commitment to design and develop quality home furnishings -- a unique strategy that helps us deliver better value to our customers."

San Francisco-based architecture firm Freebairn-Smith & Crane will remodel the building, breathing new life into the San Francisco SoMa building, which was constructed in 1946. The new design will work with the building's existing shell to create an interior that reflects Room & Board's design sense, while respecting the integrity of the surrounding neighborhood. The San Francisco firm Devcon Construction will implement the new design, which will include a structural upgrade and a newly designed parking lot.

Room & Board has been helping people furnish their homes with well-designed furniture at affordable prices for more than 20 years. Its new store will feature Room & Board's unique collection of well-designed, functional furniture and accessories that allow customers to create living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms or offices that reflect their personal styles.

Currently, Room & Board has stores in Minneapolis, Chicago, Denver, California and a store opening in New York in January 2005.

About Room & Board

Room & Board is a Minneapolis-based furniture retailer offering unique home furnishings that combine classic, simple design and exceptional quality. For more than 20 years, Room & Board professionals have helped people furnish their homes, translating their passion for well-designed home furnishings into outstanding value for customers. Room & Board has stores in Minneapolis, Denver, Chicago and California, and makes its unique collection of home furnishings available nationally through its fast-growing Shop From Home business, which includes a print catalog and Web site, a team of knowledgeable Design Associates to help with the selection process and a professional, in-home delivery service. For more information on Room & Board, visit www.roomandboard.com or call 800-486-6554 to order a catalog.