Jennifer Furniture (formerly Jennifer Convertibles) is an American retail company, based in Great Neck, New York. The company is owned by John Garg and the Namdar Realty Group.

History and operations

The company was founded in 1975 in Woodbury, New York. On July 19, 2010, the company announced that it had filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

as a consequence of "substantial losses". According to ''

Furniture Today ''Furniture Today'' is a weekly American magazine about the furniture industry. It is part of the Gannett media holding company. History and profile ''Furniture Today'' was started in 1976. In March 2010 it was acquired by Sandow Media from R ...

'' magazine, the company was number 48 among furniture retailers with US$114 million in sales for its fiscal year ending August 29, 2009. It subsequently emerged from Chapter 11 under the control of its major supplier, the Haining Mengnu Group. In 2020 "Jennifer Furniture" brand along with the company assets was purchased by JenniferOpCo. Presently the company 6 stores and its online channel is owned and operated by JenniferOpCo.

Stores

As of July 20, 2010, the company operated 142 namesake stores and 12 Jennifer Leather stores across the U.S. It also owned 154

Ashley Furniture HomeStores Ashley (formerly known as Ashley HomeStore and still known as Ashley Furniture HomeStore in some countries) is an American furniture store chain that sells Ashley Furniture products. Opened in 1997, the chain comprises over 2000 locations worldwi ...

and licensed five others. As of April 30, 2013, 65 company-owned stores operated under the Jennifer Convertibles and Jennifer Leather names and six stores operated under the

name. Jennifer Convertibles stores specialize in the retail sale of complete lines of sofa beds, as well as sofas and companion pieces, such as loveseats, chairs and recliners, bedrooms and dining rooms. The company is a dealer of Sealy sofa beds in the United States. Jennifer Leather stores specialize in the retail sale of leather living room furniture. During the fiscal year ended August 26, 2006, the company closed three stores, of which one was located in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, and two were located in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. The year prior, the company closed 20 stores across the country, including locations in Missouri, Kansas, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, California, Massachusetts, Indiana, Florida, Michigan, and New York. Upon its emergence from bankruptcy in February 2011, the company had 64 Jennifer Convertibles stores and eight Jennifer Leather stores, as well as six licensed Ashley Furniture HomeStores in the greater New York City area.

2020 sale

Jennifer Furniture was purchased by John Garg and the Namdar Realty Group in June 2020 from Morris Holdings Ltd. They operate it under the name Jennifer Opco LLC and have six stores as of March 2021.

Criticism

On July 29, 2004, New York Attorney General

Eliot Spitzer Eliot Laurence Spitzer (born June 10, 1959) is an American politician and attorney. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was the 54th governor of New York from 2007 until his resignation in 2008. Spitzer was b ...

announced a consent order and judgment that would significantly reform the company's sales practices and provide restitution to consumers. The judgment permanently enjoined the company from engaging in deceptive, fraudulent or illegal business practices, and requires the company to make substantial reforms to its sales practices and customer service operations. The judgment also requires the company to make restitution to consumers for its failure to replace or repair defective goods. In addition, the company agreed to pay $275,000 in penalties, and $2,000 in costs. The company received a grade "F" from the Better Business Bureau each year from 2006 through 2009 and a grade "A" in 2013. Across the U.S. the company has had complaints for deceptive sales practices, delivery problems, not honoring its warranties and

bait-and-switch Bait-and-switch is a form of fraud used in retail sales but also employed in other contexts. First, customers are "baited" by merchants' advertising products or services at a low price, but when customers visit the store, they discover that the a ...

techniques. Customer complaints are regularly ignored and lawsuits frequently follow.

Bankruptcy

On July 18, 2010, Jennifer Convertibles filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. At the time of the filing Mr. Rami Abada was the president of the company and Harley Greenfield was the CEO. The company listed their assets valued at about $26 million, with debts estimated to be about $46.4 million. The large and unsecured creditors included Haining Mengnu;

Ashley Ashley is a place name derived from the Old English words '' æsc'' (“ash”) and '' lēah'' (“meadow”). It may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ashley (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name ...

, with a $1.4 million claim, Klaussner, and former manufacturer Stratford/Caye. Upon emergence from Chapter 11 in February 2011 the Chinese supplier and creditor Haining Mengnu Group received about 90% of the company's new stock. The new management team included CEO Gebing (Morris) Zou, while Mr. Abada continued as president. At the time of the re-organization Jennifer had 64 stores selling sleeper-sofas, eight Jennifer Leather stores and six licensed Ashley Furniture HomeStores in the New York City area.

References

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External links

Official website

1975 establishments in New York (state) Great Neck Peninsula Companies based in Nassau County, New York Retail companies established in 1975 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010 Furniture retailers of the United States