Rowe's Woes Put Storehouse Chain on the Auction Block

Shoppers checking out at the Storehouse near Logan Circle last weekend were told that only cash and checks -- no credit cards -- were being accepted because of the bankruptcy filing of Rowe Cos., the retailer's parent company. Sofas, chairs, lamps and silk pillows were being sold from the floor, but no special orders were being taken. Storehouse will be sold at auction Tuesday.

An Atlanta-based chain with 18 locations in the Washington-Baltimore area, Storehouse has become a major purveyor of casual, contemporary furnishings in the mid-price range. Known for stylish sofas, sleek media centers and colorful accessories, it also billed itself as a neighborhood store offering one-stop shopping for home office furniture, window treatments and rugs.

According to Storehouse Inc. President Caroline H.S. Hipple, the furniture retailer will be sold at auction in Alexandria either to a strategic partner who will try to keep it going or to a liquidator who will sell off its stock. She said she is trying furiously to avert the latter.

"I am working on the strategic partner part, and I am in a race against the clock," says Hipple, who has been president of Storehouse for six years. "I am talking seriously with three possible partners, but I can't say whom." Results of the sale will be announced Oct. 6.

Hipple says customers with furnishings on order should either arrange to have them delivered before Oct. 6 or pick them up at a store or at the Laurel warehouse. Online sales have been suspended pending the outcome of the auction, though product information is still available at http://www.storehouse.com/ .

Hipple says Storehouse, with 72 stores nationwide, had sales of $151 million last year. This year, she says, the chain's sales are up 4 percent. McLean-based Rowe, which bought Storehouse in 1999, had been having financial difficulties the past two years because of glitches in a new manufacturing system and a tough economic climate.

If a liquidator wins the bidding war, Hipple says, everything in the stores will go on sale and the chain will disappear in about three months. "I want people to be able to get their furniture," she says. "We want to protect our customer until we understand what our future will be.

"Our Washington and Baltimore locations are our most profitable stores," Hipple says. "I am optimistic, but I will tell you that the time is very tight between filing Chapter 11 and the bidding process. We have done such a great job in making good design accessible at reasonable prices. That is our love and our passion, and I want to continue that."