Before it was City Furniture, the Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based retailer was Waterbed City. In 1971, recent college graduate Kevin Koenig used $1,500 in savings to open Waterbed City in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His brother, Keith, also joined the company, and together, they began a successful business selling waterbeds for $29.95.
In the 1990s, however, waterbeds began to decline in popularity. But rather than disappearing along with the fad, the retailer evolved. In 1994, Waterbed City became City Furniture to reflect its additional offerings of furniture and decor. Today, the retailer has 25 stores in Florida and ships nationwide. Now, Keith’s son Andrew Koenig is the CEO of the retailer and is ready to evolve once again.
City Furniture has rebranded to City Home, a move that captures the retailer’s expanded product assortment which now includes fitness, closets, bath, kitchens, appliances and electronics, in addition to bedding, furniture and decor.
“City Furniture has always been more than just furniture,” Andrew Koenig said. “We’ve sold a lot of mattresses. We sell a lot of home decor. So we needed to make that natural change to City Home.”
Koenig said the new name and visual identity reflect the company’s ambition to become consumers’ “first stop for all things home.”
Of the new categories, Koenig forecasts that appliances will likely be the highest-performing, but said that assortments will expand and contract appropriately as the company learns what customers need. The retailer has also expanded its suite of services to include interior design, custom cabinetry, storage solutions and dedicated trade services for builders and designers.
The City Home name and expanded concept will debut at the company’s Plant City, Florida, and Clearwater, Florida, showrooms. The rollout will continue to its 23 other Florida locations during the remainder of 2026 and into 2027.
“We’re constantly trying to help our customers and solve more problems for them,” Koenig said. He added that company data showed customers often struggle to navigate a fragmented furnishings and installation marketplace, particularly when moving into a new home.
That challenge is reflected in a 2024 Furniture Shopping Trends study, which reported that shoppers browse an average of three websites and visit three stores in person before making a purchase.
But Koenig also recently experienced those challenges firsthand. A couple of years ago, he had a new home built for him and his family, and described furnishing it from top to bottom as a difficult process.
“It was unbelievable how many places I had to go to shop,” he recalled. “If you want the best deal or right inventory levels or good lead times, it’s really hard. For customers building or moving into a new home or a new apartment, this move is definitely going to be for that particular customer who needs a lot of things all at once in a short period of time.”
As for why now is the right time for this expansion, Koenig said the retailer is constantly evolving.
“We’re always trying to improve our business and make it a better business model,” he said.
Koenig said the retooling of City Home was a huge opportunity to satisfy the company’s existing customers and welcome new ones. Despite the additional merchandise categories, Koenig said inventory expansion has been seamless thanks to the company’s existing four warehouses throughout Florida.
But Koenig said the expanded assortment is not designed to overwhelm shoppers. Inside the updated stores, curation will continue to be a key part of its strategy.
“Whereas Amazon and Wayfair might have seven, 20, 60 million SKUs, we’re going to break that down and say, ‘Here’s the best curated versions,’” Koenig added. “We think all these curated categories together under our one roof make the shopping journey pretty exciting for our customers.”
Koenig said the retailer has always used a lifestyle merchandising model, which creates vignettes in cohesive styles such as modern farmhouse or coastal, rather than grouping products by category only. The new categories like appliances, home entertainment and fitness will have dedicated showroom spaces, but will also be sprinkled into some of the lifestyle vignettes to represent the retailer’s “whole home” strategy.
“I think when people shop retail, they want to be inspired, they want to get ready for that next purchase,” Koenig added. He said that one day, a customer might be in the market for a bedroom set but will want to see what’s new in kitchens or appliances.
City Home is also increasing its focus on hospitality. Although the retailer already offers free cookies and a daily happy hour with a complimentary first drink, it will also introduce a wine bar.
“We’re going to have a main kitchen in these stores where you might see chefs cooking and feeding you while you’re shopping and passing you a glass of champagne, while you’re looking at kitchens and appliances,” Koenig said.
Outside the store, Koenig said there will be manned barbecue grills, serving items such as brisket sandwiches before they even walk in the door.
“We are truly going to live another level of retail theater and make shopping fun,” Koenig said.
City Home’s broadened hospitality initiatives are part of its larger effort to differentiate the company from other retailers.
A few years from now, Koenig said he would measure the success of the transition by four criteria: customer satisfaction, achieving its financial goals, making sure his employees are inspired by the business they work for, and expanding the company’s philanthropic efforts. The company has always given at least 5% of its profits back to the community. By expanding its business, Koenig is hopeful to do even more.
“I’m very confident we’re going to take good care of the customer,” he said. “And there’s nothing more powerful than that word of mouth, and that drives repeat business loyalty.”
Although the retailer’s name and offerings have changed over the last fifty years, its strategy remains the same: keeping up with evolving consumer tastes and retooling itself to meet them.
