Endless assortment, eye for design leads to growth for Forth Worth retailer

FORT WORTH, Texas — In a little more than two decades in business, owner Abby Slayton-Tobin has made her store, There’s No Place Like Home Furniture, like no place in Fort Worth.

For starters, Slayton-Tobin has product from some 800 vendors available through her store, which includes case goods, upholstery, mattresses, rugs, lighting, décor pieces, wall art, home office, outdoor and more. It also offers full interior design services with degreed designers on staff. It’s gotten noticed, as There’s No Place Like Home has won honors for best furniture store in Fort Worth for 12 years running. The store is also expanding, as There’s No Place Like Home Two (Two, as it’s known colloquially) soft-opened on Dec. 18.

So how does a retailer showcase product from that many suppliers in a footprint of around 4,800 square feet?

“We have the most selection of any furniture store in Texas,” Slayton-Tobin told Furniture Today. “What we do is show one sample piece from every manufacturer in our showroom so people can see the quality, the construction, the aesthetic of that company, but we can source anything from any of those manufacturers.”

Slayton-Tobin said, with relationships in place with so many vendors, her store hasn’t been squeezed as hard by supply chain constraints. Consumers have full access, and any products ordered are drop-shipped.

“We order direct from the manufacturer. Because lead times are slow right now and inventory is a pressure point with furniture, because we have so many lines, we have a lot more sources to find that piece of furniture the customer needs that is in stock and ready to ship,” Slayton-Tobin said.

“We can tell them up front the exact one they want may be eight months out but we have seven more that are identical or similar that we can get within four weeks. That cuts the wait time down because we have so many manufacturers to source from. Because we don’t keep inventory, our prices tend to be lower than a regular furniture retail store. We don’t have that overhead of inventory.”

The staff designers work with clients at home and in the store, and take extensive notes and photos to create designs and look books. Their extensive notes come in handy for those clients who want to do a project room-by-room rather than in one shot.

“Nothing’s too small, and nothing’s too large. We can do in-home design visits for our clients, and our designers can put together a look book for each room,” Slayton-Tobin said.

She noted design business and shoppers routinely come from all across the region. Underscoring that point, she said that recent deliveries have included Houston and Tulsa, Okla. “We have clients who come from all over the state.”

While the first There’s No Place Like Home, located at 855 Foch St., has become something of a destination, Slayton-Tobin is hopeful that Two, which is at 4854 White Settlement Road, can achieve a similar status in its neighborhood. So far, Slayton-Tobin said there are two existing businesses there, but it’s attracting plenty of new residents, which bodes well for potential growth.

“We’re in a very busy area; our first location is kind of a destination area. We’re surrounded by museums and live music venues and a lot of new residential high rises. We’re extremely busy here,” she said. “There’s a new area that’s up and coming, the River District, and there are a lot of plans for that area. I can envision, in a year or so, having a lot of foot traffic and new people to the area within walking distance from the new store. I’m trying to help build that area up.”

And while Two will be about half the size of the original store, Slayton-Tobin feels that won’t be a hindrance, simply because she’s got a method that works.

“The size doesn’t matter because of all the vendors and lines we carry, we’ll have the same amount in the smaller store,” she said. “Even though it’s smaller, the availability of items will be exactly the same.”