United Furniture Warehouse (UFW) was a Canadian retail furniture chain operating locations in Western

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. The company billed itself as "offering warehouse-style shopping at the lowest possible prices." The company was founded in 1981 by John Volken, an immigrant who arrived in Canada from East

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 1960 at the age of 18. It "was one of the first businesses to sell at warehouse prices and to operate without commission sales staff or in-store decor." In 2001, the company had sales of CAN$210 million (approx. US$135 million). By 2003, the company had expanded to over 150 stores including 39 stores in the northwestern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. With stores in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

and

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, it was "one of the most widespread retail furniture chains in North America" and "one of Canada's most successful stateside retailers". However, in early 2003 they were forced to close all but 5 of their stores in the United States. By early 2004, the company had completely exited the U.S. market. As of March 2004, the company had reduced its size to 81 stores and was acquired by another national furniture retailer,

The Brick The Brick Ltd. is a Canadian retailer of furniture, mattresses, appliances and home electronics. The company was founded as The Brick Warehouse LP by brothers, John, Fred, and Bill Comrie. The first warehouse opened on September 1, 1971 in E ...

. In 2006, The Brick rebranded 24 of these under its own name in an attempt to save on

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

costs and increase sales, which had fallen 10.8% in the third quarter of 2005 for established UFW stores. As of February 2010, the company had reduced its size to 36 stores across Canada - 15 in

, 10 in

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, 5 in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, 3 in each of

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

and

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

. Some time later, they re-entered the U.S. market with stores in Bellingham and

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

in Washington. Those two stores are still open, despite the United Furniture Warehouse name being retired in 2018. As of January 2014, the company had reduced its size yet again. Now there were 24 United Furniture Warehouse stores across

- 8 in each of Alberta and Ontario, 2 in British Columbia, and 3 in each of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. As of March 2017, the number of stores had decreased to 12. All UFW stores had been re-branded as UFW/The Brick Clearance Centre by that time. Stores have a mixture of new items on display, as well as clearance items. Later that year in July, all remaining UFW locations were switched to a new branding called “The Brick Outlet”, along with renaming The Brick Clearance Centre locations.

United Furniture Warehouse had a well-known musical cue at the end of its broadcast ads, including the phrase "United Furniture Warehouse" sung in bass, followed closely by a "bump bump!" sound effect— a pair of orchestral hits that are simultaneous to the flashing of the company's

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...

on the screen. In one of its commercials, they poked fun at this fact, with an employee singing the

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

and a group of children pointing out, "You forgot the bump bump!" One commentator wrote the jingle was "maddeningly catchy". American actor Steve Landesberg was prominently featured in many of the company's television commercials during the 1990s.

References

External links

Official website
{{Edmonton Corporations Furniture retailers of Canada Companies based in Edmonton 1981 establishments in Alberta Defunct retail companies of Canada

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References

External links