I.O. Metro Furniture

When I.O. Metro Furniture of Lowell opened in March 2005, it didn’t set out to be a traditional furniture store.
“We didn’t model after anyone,” said founder Jay Howard. “We modeled after being an innovative, cool place to buy furniture for your house that’s affordable.”
The business plan seems to have worked.
It opened four new stores in 2009 and now has 16 in eight states. The company expects to open seven more stores this year in places such as St. Louis and Atlanta.
Howard declined to release revenue numbers, but he said the company’s sales jumped 56 percent in 2009 compared with 2008, an increase mainly attributable to the new-store openings. In addition, same-store sales, a key indicator of a retailer’s health, were up in single digits, he said. In 2007, Howard told the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal, I.O. Metro’s sales were more than $5 million in 2006.
The company now has about 100 employees, about twice the number it had in 2008.
“We totally swim upstream for our industry,” Howard said.
The company sells mid-priced imported furniture and offers exclusive items, which is rare for a furniture store, Howard said.
The I.O. Metro locations sell what’s in stock, so the customers can have what they bought delivered within days. Howard said most furniture companies couldn’t offer that service, which gave I.O. Metro an advantage.
Store officials also are constantly reviewing what’s selling and what’s not in order to keep the stock fresh. The inventory changes at least twice a year.
Howard said the company was innovative and didn’t react to its competition.
“We try and make it fun to come in and buy furniture and accessories versus a burden,” he said.

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