Pittsfield — Come Monday, Pittsfield will have quite a few more sofas within the city’s borders … and mattresses, chairs, tables, lamps. Well, you get the picture, as Raymour & Flanigan furniture store is set to open June 3 at The Shops at Unkamet Brook, 665 Merrill Road in Pittsfield.
Raymour & Flanigan will occupy the 2,500-square-foot site vacated in March 2023 by retailer Bed Bath & Beyond as part of the company’s liquidation of its physical sites. However, the conglomerate also purchased the entire shopping center that houses Dick’s Sporting Goods and Panera Bread.
According to Dan Wright, regional director of sales at Raymour & Flanigan in Albany, the showroom space is on the smaller side of the company’s approximately 150 stores, with all of their shops located in the Northeast and boasting the top regional retailer spot for furniture. Last week, the corporation opened a Boston location as it continues to grow, he said.
“It’s just an area of opportunity for us,” Wright said of the new Pittsfield store. “We have a store in Springfield, and then we had Albany. It left western Massachusetts [customers] deciding to go to Springfield or coming to Albany. So, when this building went up for sale, we felt like it was a good opportunity for us to get in, connect the dots between [Albany] and Springfield.”
According to its website, Raymour & Flanigan began operating in Syracuse in 1947, founded by brothers Bernard and Arnold Goldberg. The chain has stores in seven states.
Since purchasing the mall sometime between the end of 2023 and February, the company has changed the flooring, painted, and added walls in the showroom. When customers enter, they will be greeted by a featured vignette of one of Raymour & Flanigan’s bestselling designs or something for the season, “an eye-grabbing moment up front,” Wright said.
None of the Raymour & Flanigan showrooms carry stock; everything is a showpiece with deliveries made out of the local distribution center. The Albany Distribution Center had previously supported deliveries to Pittsfield two days each week. But, with the opening of the local store, that service will expand to five days a week, with the possibility to enlarge even further to seven days a week. “So, there’s a good chance if you come in [on] Monday and you make a purchase, we can deliver it to you by Thursday,” Wright said. “It’s going to be much more efficient for everybody.”
If there is any type of issue with an order, even if a local customer had purchased the item at another store, the buyer can come into the Pittsfield location to resolve it, he said.
The Pittsfield store features a new mattress gallery compared to other locations, being more modern and offering a Tempur-Pedic section with up-to-date bedding, Wright said. However, pricing is uniform throughout the company, with floor samples unique to the local store possibly offered, he said.
As for the other tenants in the shopping center, Wright said the company has a history of being the landlord of the strip malls housing their locations, owning most of the buildings housing its showrooms. “We’re going to make sure anything from lawn care to potholes, anything like that, everything is taken care of on our end,” he said.
The company plans to provide monthly local community-outreach events including Pittsfield-area schools, a robotics club, a sports or scouting club, with the programs offered in the showroom as it has done with other locations, Wright said. These events typically result in a donation of a few hundred dollars to the beneficiary, he said.
“We definitely welcome anyone in the community who has a not-for-profit or other organization to partner with us,” Wright said. The Pittsfield leadership will be actively recruiting such groups, and interested parties can contact the showroom at (413) 629-1515.
Store Manager Mike “Cap” Capuano, a Bennington resident who has worked for the company for 17 years, will be at the helm of the local team. Two Pittsfield residents are among the store’s five sales associates, as well as one customer-care representative and all of the “back-of-the-house” moving support staff, Wright said of its 10 employees.
The Pittsfield store is the company’s first foray into the Berkshire County market and is slated to host its official ribbon cutting on June 12 at 3 p.m., followed by a Family Fun Day on June 15, from noon to 2 p.m.
“We’re really excited to be here,” Wright said. “We think there’s a need in the community, and we’re happy to be here for it. We’re here to make sure everybody has nice furniture in their buildings and whatever we can do for the community as well.”
The hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
