Closet & Storage Concepts buys More Space Place
West Berlin, NJ firm boosts national Murphy bed outlets
Bob Lewis' Closet & Storage Concepts, West Berlin, NJ, which manufactures folding Murphy beds, closets and garage organizers, says it has bought More Space Place, a Clearwater, Fla., company that is a leading retailer of Murphy beds and other folding beds. Lewis won't say what he's paying.
The combined companies will have sales of $40 million a year, 400 employees (including 50 at the corporate office and company store in West Berlin), and 39 stores, according to a statement by Lewis, who founded Closet & Storage Concepts in 1987. The company franchised 8 stores and owned 3, in a total of 9 states, prior to the More Space Place deal. More Space Place has 28 franchise stores in 10 states scattered across the country, mostly smaller than Closet & Storage Concepts, Lewis told me.
"We run the business as a home-improvement, free-estimate process business," Lewis added. "Business is growing, coming out of the recession. We're seeing a lot of pent-up demand. We had a double-digit sales increase logged in with our company even before this deal." He started the company four years after finishing the University of Maryland and moving to South Jersey as a rep for the former Jefferson Ward merchandising business, where he met his future wife. Their grown kids aren't in the business.