N.Y. furniture firm brings first showroom to Garden State

When L. & J.G. Stickley Inc. learned in August that its New Jersey furniture dealer, Bograd’s Fine Furniture, in Riverdale, would be going out of business, President and CEO Aminy Audi knew she either had to quickly locate another high-end dealer,…

When L. & J.G. Stickley Inc. learned in August that its New Jersey furniture dealer, Bograd’s Fine Furniture, in Riverdale, would be going out of business, President and CEO Aminy Audi knew she either had to quickly locate another high-end dealer, or open the company’s first showroom in the state.

“We don’t like having a void in the marketplace … and we didn’t find any high-end dealers for us in that market,” Audi said. “We already have a showroom in Manhattan and one in White Plains, so it made sense for us to open a showroom in Paramus. Now we can pool our advertising and delivery and other operational functions with the proximity.”

Although Stickley’s new 22,364-square-foot showroom, at the intersection of Route 17 and Route 4, is nearly 20 miles away from Bograd’s facility, Audi said the Paramus location “has a lot more traffic and is a more high-end market.”

Stickley’s broker, the Hackensack office of commercial real estate firm NAI James E. Hanson, announced the sale of the retail property on Wednesday. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

“This is the perfect space for the company’s expansion into the vital Bergen County retail market,” said Joan Cenicola, vice president of NAI Hanson, in a statement.

With its Paramus location, the Manlius, N.Y.-based company now has 15 showrooms throughout the United States and Canada.

According to Audi, Stickley has just begun the interview process to fill 20 positions at the

Paramus showroom. She hopes to open the showroom by Labor Day.