Shopping for Futons Inside the Big Box

In 1957, Charles Lazarus opened a store in Washington, D.C., with a simple but original strategy. He gathered a large array of childhood playtime products under one very large roof and set them at everyday low prices. Who knew at the time that when Lazarus swung open the doors of this store, he opened what is now understood to be the original category killer. Fifty years later, after opening almost 700 US and almost 600 international Toys ‘R’ Us stores, Lazarus is considered the pioneer of the category killer format. In the sixties and seventies, Toys ‘R’ Us drove dozens of small toy retailers out of business and dominated the US toy market.

The concept of this powerhouse toy retailer has caught on. Today, superstores and big box retailers threaten to dominate categories across the retail landscape. Home Depot rules the home improvement sector with stores that are 18 times the size of traditional hardware stores. Today’s consumers can browse through books at Chapters, whose stores are 12 times the size of yesterday’s bookstores. Looking for the latest in sporting goods? Jog to your nearest Sports Authority, which is six times the size of traditional sporting goods retailers.

Americans are walking through the doors of these kinds of super stores in every town. Whether it’s a discount department store like Target or Wal-Mart, a category killer such as Circuit City or Office Max or a warehouse club like Costco and Sam’s Club, if there’s not one near you, just wait. Plans for expansion into your neighborhood are surely on your town’s zoning board docket.

The furniture category is not beyond the sprawl of these category killers and big box retailers. Along with local pet suppliers, mom-and-pop electronics stores and neighborhood bicycle shops, furniture retailers have had to adapt to the presence of large national chains pressing into their category. In recent years, this sprawl has penetrated even into futon furniture’s niche.

What kinds of futon furniture lie inside the doors of today’s superstores? Where do big box shoppers find futons? What kinds of selection and price points do superstores offer? Can they offer anything besides a black metal frame with a five-inch mattress?

Futons in the Big Box

Big box retailers sell furniture. Actually, they sell a lot of furniture. As Furniture/Today’s Top 100 Furniture Retailers report reveals, the largest sellers of furniture in the US today aren’t traditional furniture stores. Futon furniture can be found at today’s biggest furniture retailers, on the floor or perched on scaffolding at Top 10 furniture retailers Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and Costco as well as Berkshire Hathaway’s Furniture Division, which includes conventional furniture stores R.C. Willey, Jordan’s and Nebraska Furniture Mart.

Shopping solely national superstores? Futon Life also found lots of futon product among the Top 10 big boxes at the following stores: Target, Sears, Costco, JC Penney, Kmart and BJ’s Wholesale Club.

Shopping the ‘Mart

Shoppers of familiar ‘mart’ stores, the national discount department stores, find a small futon selection. Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Target, the three largest and most visible big box retailers, carry promotional futon frame/mattress combinations and this selection is often expanded to meet the back-to-school demands of futon-loving students. Black metal and no-frills mission styles at price points well under $200 are most frequently available.

Online offerings from these mass merchants, however, are more extensive. K-Mart has a moderately priced selection of twelve futon frames, most from Elite. A black metal frame is priced at $79.99. The highest priced frame is a rustic pine frame at $189.99. Three mattress options from Elite range from $79.00 to an innerspring mattress for $129.99.

Target’s online futon offerings are a more complete representation of the futon category. Shoppers are offered seventeen frames ranging in price from $179 for a simple mission frame to $489 for a stylish Skyline upholstered futon. There are many other frame options in the $270-$290 range. Target carries five mattress choices that start at $99 for a five-inch mattress up to $329 for an ‘ultra premium’ foam mattress.

Of these ‘big three’ super-retailers, futons have the smallest presence at Wal-Mart. Only two futons are available: a Capitol solid wood frame ($228) and an imported wood lattice frame ($178). Both feature seven-inch foam mattresses.

Category Killers

While small, regional pet supply stores bark at the dominance of Petco, top dogs in the furniture category have yet to venture inside the fence of the futon niche. Category killers such as Rooms to Go, Ethan Allen, Levitz Home Furnishings and La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries are all listed among Furniture/Today’s top 25 furniture retailers, yet none of them sell futons.

Triversity’s listing of Top 100 specialty retailers also shows that few have entered the futon category. Published by STORES magazine, the ranking includes seven furniture/furnishings retailers, including Ikea, Big Lots, Pier 1 and Crate and Barrel. Futon furniture receives but scant attention from these top furniture dealers.

Nevertheless, the futon category has gotten a favorable nod from a spattering of lifestyle stores and catalogues. These vendors have given high-end futon sofas added prestige and visibility. LL Bean, a top 100 specialty retailer, offers an American hardwood mission style futon/mattress combination for $749. Recalling futon’s original design with quality and contemporary styling, West Elm’s recent catalogue includes a basic tri-fold frame and foam mattress for $399.

Warehouse Clubbing

Warehouse clubs have appealed to bargain hunters for years. They promise rock-bottom, wholesale prices in a no-frills shopping venue. Here’s how futons are represented among the scaffolding and forklifts.

Costco has a surprisingly thorough online selection of futons from Lifestyle Solutions at a range of prices you would expect at a specialty store. Futon furniture is referred to as “futon sofas.” They are found by clicking on “living room furniture” and “sleep sofas” rather than by clicking bedding or dorm furnishings. Costco offers everything from an Innovation-style, multi-position ‘lounger’ futon for $849 to a leather-covered futon sofa for $869. The entry-priced frame is the “Bayview Slider Sofa” selling for $399.

You won’t find any promotional futon furniture at Sam’s Club. Here are six futons from Big Tree, all with innerspring mattresses, all in the $750 to $800 price point range. Customers can choose from a lodge-look or solid oak mission style futon sofa for $798 and a rustic pine futon sofa priced at $750. Sam’s also offers futon groupings from Big Tree’s Hawthorne or Adams collections for $1,998.

Unlike other warehouse superstores, BJ’s Wholesale Club doesn’t have an online store. Once shoppers at BJ’s clear the 24-packs of socks and a six-month supply of frozen pizza, they find a single offering: a Willow Creek solid oak frame with an innerspring mattress for $499. You won’t find any promotional frames at this club, either.

A reputation for rock bottom pricing drives customers to warehouse clubs. Just how are the premium futon sofas from Costco, Sam’s and BJ’s tagged? Specialty stores need not worry about being undersold by these bulk-superstores. Price points for futons at warehouse clubs are comparable to price points at specialty stores.

Plenty of Room Inside and Outside the Big Box

Despite early premonitions and undercurrent fears that big box sprawl into the futon category would crowd out local specialty stores, today’s retail landscape shows that there is room both inside and outside the big box for the futon category. Futon players can be heartened by futon sofa’s expansion inside the doors of the nation’s leading retailers. The considerable presence of high-end product among powerhouse retailers gives greater visibility and legitimacy to well-made, value-packed, quality futon furniture.

Here’s to the happy marriage of small and large futon retailers!

FL