Hurwitz Mintz survives and succeeds

Longtime Louisiana store has plans to grow youth

By Lisa Casinger -- Kids Today, 10/1/2007 12:00:00 AM

Hurwitz Mintz was founded in 1923 by Joseph Hurwitz and Morris Mintz as a small furniture store on Royal Street in New Orleans. The store grew quickly as one of the better medium- to high-end furniture stores in town.

In 1942, Ellis Mintz joined the business. Under his leadership, the store doubled in size in 1963 with the purchase of an adjoining building. Later in 1971, Ellis bought, renovated and opened a two-story store around the corner and called it Units; it catered to a more contemporary consumer.

Mitchell Mintz, the third generation family member and current CEO and president, entered the business in 1973, and in 1977 he and Ellis expanded Units from two to five floors of furniture and accessories. The next year, the company bought a 200,000-square-foot warehouse to further increase its efficiency.

Hurwitz Mintz continued to grow and expand in 1979 by reorganizing its accounting procedures and adding a sophisticated computer system that helped service and manage the business in future years. By 1982, Ellis and Mitchell had acquired full ownership of the company by buying the Hurwitz family's interest.

Growth in 1998 prompted plans to add a new store in Metairie and build a warehouse capable of handling the increased volume. Hurwitz Mintz bought the site in 1999, and the facility now provides more than 80,000 square feet of showroom space.

Ellis retired, leaving his son Mitchell to run the company.

The store's youth department is headed by its buyer, Charmaine Roy. Roy started out with the company as a switchboard operator and has worked in just about every department in the company; she's been working in youth for the past 15 years.

In 2000, youth encompassed about 1,600 square feet of the floor space but today it covers 4,200 square feet and represents about 5% of this nearly $52 million business, as reported by Furniture/Today. Roy says there are plans to expand the department by 50%.

Roy has watched the category grow and says she always "strives to make it different; to think about what the kids today like, what their needs are."

Cindy Davis and Kenneth Wiles, the visual team, in the vignette they created for Lea's Varsity collection.

Roy uses themed groups, like the spider web collection from Powell, for added oomph.

The product mix is trendy but traditional and Roy credits the visual team, Cindy Davis and Kenneth Wiles, for making the vignettes inviting.

"They put flip flops on the wall, skateboard themes, you name it," Roy said.

When she's shopping the markets, Roy says the first question she asks herself is "who would like this and why?" When she can answer that, she knows the product will work.

Hurwitz Mintz targets juvenile to tweens with everything from captain's beds for the 5-year-olds to lofts and bunks for the 13 and 14 year olds.

"The youth business is fun because it's innovative and changing all the time," Roy said.

Hurwitz Mintz's youth department, called Junior Mintz, is set up on an open floor plan with walls separating the vignettes. Though accessories are used to enhance the displays and are also for sale, they aren't a major part of the business. Roy dresses the beds with product from Lea (Lazy Boy Kids) and California Kids and the section has Disney music piped in for ambiance.

The store, including the youth department, offers worldwide delivery and complimentary design assistance. It reaches its target audience primarily through newspaper and TV ads.

Top selling products include full beds, rather than twins, and Roy says in the last six months she's seen sales of basic computer desks slow down.

"I think it's because there are more laptops being used and kids don't necessarily do their homework in their rooms anymore," she said. "Girls' desks do sell better than boys though because they also use it as a vanity; they don't think of it just as a homework space. Boys usually get entertainment centers over desks."

As for style, Roy tries to stay with what's on trend. While cherry furniture is always a good seller, Roy also brings in themed collections like Powell's spider web bed, Pulaski's Build-A-Bear and Lea's Hang Ten.

"Those collections keep things fresh and moving," she said. "Lea's Free Time collection has a full-over-full option, one of the first I've seen, and I think that's going to do well. Consumers aren't looking for the traditional bunks but rather bunks on top and computer stations on bottom or other options."

Roy tests themed collections, like Powell's Sunday Funnies, before she goes deep in them. Often she uses them to make the department look good and draw traffic with the wow factor.

"We try to compete just by being different," she said. "We think about what our customers need rather than going out and buying something just because the price is right."

Before Hurricane Katrina there were two Hurwitz Mintz locations, one in the French Quarter of New Orleans, the original location, and a second in Metairie. The French Quarter store sustained extensive damage and had to be closed. The Metairie location flooded with 4 feet of water but Roy said everyone came in and helped get it back up and running within two months.

"The storm caused a lot of grief and heartache," she said. "People say this area is going to take 10 years before it comes back, but not for us. Everyone needs furniture now and people are coming in from all over the place, not just our local area."

Even though Hurwitz Mintz is a high volume, successful store, it, too, has issues with vendors and everyday challenges. Roy says exclusives are a big issue especially since the retailer does so much advertising.

The company strongly believes in vendor training and looks to its reps to train the salespeople on new product and designs.

"We're constantly doing vendor training," she said. "We have to, the times change, the product changes and we want to stay on top. When we find a vendor we really like we 'get married.' They know we're committed to them and they commit to us."

Roy says the best idea for the youth department actually came from the architect for the Metairie store. He suggested naming it Junior Mintz. After that, Mitchell had the idea to pipe in the Disney music and it all came together to set a fun, inviting, kid-friendly mood.

Roy's typical day includes ordering furniture, ensuring there's always a good flow of merchandise and running reports. She credits her mentor, merchandise manager Linda Banes, with teaching her everything she knows about the business.

"She's been my role model," Roy said. "I was her assistant when I moved into merchandising and she always encourages me to ask her anything."