Need furniture? Visit Agoura
City offers 'designer row'
By Stephanie Bertholdo bertholdo@theacorn.com

HIGH END- The new Ethan Allen showroom is one of several new designer furniture retailers to move into Agoura Hills.

New stores have begun to open in a 120,000-square-foot furniture complex in Agoura Hills, transforming one stretch along Canwood Street next to the 101 Freeway into a veritable "designer row."

Five high-end furniture and home decor stores at the Agoura Design Center already have been built, and space remains for two more.

Ethan Allen opened in November 2007 followed by Berks Luxury Outdoor Furniture and Keyboard Concepts, said Michael Adler, president of Adler Realty Investments Inc., the Woodland Hillsbased firm that developed the property. West Point Furniture Design, The Mattress Store and Power of Home are scheduled to open soon.

"Our goal was to design a onestop shopping destination for all furnishing needs," Adler said. "The Agoura Design Center completes Canwood Street as a major destination furniture retail district."

The Adler stores are just one of many furniture, appliance and home decor businesses that have chosen to make Agoura Hills home.

Retailers already in town include Thomasville Home Furnishings, Reeds Furniture, Neuvie, LaZBoy, Bassett Furniture Direct and the Sleep Shoppe. Many smaller furniture stores and home goods businesses are also located within the city, including NW Rugs and Warehouse Discount, to name a few. The 7-acre design center site between Kanan Road and Chesebro Road on Canwood Street has the largest concentration.

Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. sells furniture products and decorative accessories through a network of 305 design centers in the United States and abroad.

Berks Luxury Outdoor Furniture is a 50yearold Southern California company specializing in high-end outdoor furniture that can be coordinated with a variety of styles and color palettes.

Adler said the Berks store will be the company's "flagship" store as it begins to expand regionally.

Keyboard Concepts offers a large selection of new and used pianos in a wide price range.

"What I was trying to do was create a focal point for a destination furniture center," Adler said. "It's really what Canwood Street is becoming."

Long-term planning

"(Designer row) actually kind of happened on its own, naturally," said Nathan Hamburger, Agoura Hills assistant city manager. "They do well on freeway corridors where there's visibility."

"It's not something that every community has," Hamburger said. "The stores are a key component of our business community."

Agoura Hills Mayor John Edelston said the City Council and planning commission have been steering the furniture store effort for about nine years.

"You have a unique situation when you try to establish compatibility of businesses when they are juxtaposed against residences," Edelston said.

"The goal has always been to look for ways to maximize the benefits to the community yet spare residents living nearby the problems of traffic, noise and other negative effects."

Edelston said the furniture stores will bring less traffic and more sales tax revenue than office buildings. "Other than auto dealerships, furniture stores create a great deal of sales tax and revenue to the city."

The city wouldn't say exactly how much tax the new furniture stores will bring. The stores also create "cross marketing" opportunities, Edelston said.

"(Customers) stay and have lunch or dinner."

Edelston said he hopes interior designers, landscape architects and other professionals catering to home improvement will hang their shingle in Agoura Hills.