Fire Insurance Pays For New Furniture Store, But What About New Customers?
In 2004, a three alarm fire ravaged the Los Angeles furniture store that my wife and I have shopped at for years.
It used to be a beautiful, state-of-the-art showroom.
Now it was a pile of ruin.
It took a team of 49 firefighters to smother the flames, which caused the roof to collapse and burned chairs down to their springs! After some research, I discovered that insurance stepped in to cover the costs of reconstruction (estimated at over $1 million).
But what about the resulting loss-of-potential-business that they would experience over the coming years? Why doesn't insurance cover the cost of that too? It could easily amount to $4-6 million for a furniture store of this size, but I'm sure this furniture store won't see a dime of it.
It seems that insurance should take everything in to account, not just the property.
This showroom was in a prime location on Sepulveda Blvd.
in Torrance.
What happens when Los Angeles residents drive up to a charred pile of rubble? In 2004, customers didn't have the luxury of jumping on an iPhone to see if the store had relocated.
Instead, they may have just driven up the street to Ethan Allen, which is only a stone's throw away.
We visited the store while they were at their temporary location, because we needed to purchase a crib.
It was 2006 and they were still waiting for their original showroom to be finished! They said, "Being in this strip mall really hurts our reputation...
Now we get people in here expecting us to sell them cheap furniture.
How many people are showing up at our old showroom and assume that we're out of business?" Fortunately, they're now back in their original 13,000 sq.
ft showroom.
It may be state-of-the-art, but where are all the customers? Will this furniture store ever be flourishing like it once was back in 2004? Insurance may have paid for a new showroom, but how about getting them to pay for new customers too?
It used to be a beautiful, state-of-the-art showroom.
Now it was a pile of ruin.
It took a team of 49 firefighters to smother the flames, which caused the roof to collapse and burned chairs down to their springs! After some research, I discovered that insurance stepped in to cover the costs of reconstruction (estimated at over $1 million).
But what about the resulting loss-of-potential-business that they would experience over the coming years? Why doesn't insurance cover the cost of that too? It could easily amount to $4-6 million for a furniture store of this size, but I'm sure this furniture store won't see a dime of it.
It seems that insurance should take everything in to account, not just the property.
This showroom was in a prime location on Sepulveda Blvd.
in Torrance.
What happens when Los Angeles residents drive up to a charred pile of rubble? In 2004, customers didn't have the luxury of jumping on an iPhone to see if the store had relocated.
Instead, they may have just driven up the street to Ethan Allen, which is only a stone's throw away.
We visited the store while they were at their temporary location, because we needed to purchase a crib.
It was 2006 and they were still waiting for their original showroom to be finished! They said, "Being in this strip mall really hurts our reputation...
Now we get people in here expecting us to sell them cheap furniture.
How many people are showing up at our old showroom and assume that we're out of business?" Fortunately, they're now back in their original 13,000 sq.
ft showroom.
It may be state-of-the-art, but where are all the customers? Will this furniture store ever be flourishing like it once was back in 2004? Insurance may have paid for a new showroom, but how about getting them to pay for new customers too?
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