Gardner White takes over former Art Van HQ

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Top 100 retailer Gardner White has moved into the Warren, Mich., corporate headquarters, warehouse and flagship of former longtime Midwestern powerhouse Art Van Furniture.

The Auburn Hills, Mich.-based retailer will be assuming part of the warehouse, while also maintaining its current Auburn Hills distribution center. The expanded warehouse space will be used to support Gardner White’s in-stock strategy by allowing for more storage space for incoming freight in this era of unpredictable supply chains. Gardner White will continue to operate same-day delivery services on thousands of in-stock items from its Auburn Hills distribution center.

“As Michigan’s No. 1 furniture and mattress retailer, we are proud to make the Warren location our flagship store. We want to thank Warren Mayor Jim Fouts for his support and leadership in making this historic move possible,” said Rachel Stewart, president, Gardner White. “It’s our belief that building a close and vibrant relationship with the communities around our locations is vital to our success.

“This move will allow us to expand our offerings and comes on the heels of recent store openings in Rochester Hills, Saginaw and Shelby Township, and upcoming store openings in Taylor and Howell.”

Gardner White has been in hyper-expansion mode over the past 12 months and will operate 13 stores by early March. In recent months, Gardner White has taken over six former Art Van stores and re-opened them in Canton, Rochester Hills, Saginaw and Shelby Township. Next week, the Taylor store will debut, and a Howell location will follow in early March.

In addition to the two Warren locations, the company’s other locations include Ann Arbor, Auburn Hills, Brighton, Novi, Southfield, Taylor and Waterford.

“We believe that the core to our success will be hiring exceptional professionals to work in our stores,” said Stewart. “Our expansion and success are creating some great career opportunities for talented individuals in all our communities.”

In another historic move, Gardner White became the presenting sponsor of America’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in downtown Detroit, and in 2020 extended the sponsorship for the next five years.