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Joe Szegedy
Owner of Plushpod
Los Angeles
When Joe Szegedy, owner of modern furniture retailer Plushpod, signed a new lease on a larger space, he was beyond thrilled with the deal. While hunting through vacant spaces, Szegedy found rents that he hadn't seen in the area since the '80s. The space he fell in love with was located only a few blocks away from L.A.'s furniture and design district.
Negotiations went well; Szegedy was able to get five months of free rent and a lease for half of the original per-square-foot asking price. He also arranged for a two-month grace period on his move-in date.
Still, to land a space twice as big as his old one, Szegedy is paying more -- at a time when furniture sales are still slow. It's a calculated gamble.
"We had sufficient reserves and speculated that the recession would turn around -- if not by this time, then by next year," Szegedy says. "It was just a prime time to either make the move or not."
So far, he's happy about the move, which Plushpod made in July. The larger storefront increases the shop's visibility, and more showroom space means more furniture for customers to browse. Plus, the availability of a location near Plushpod's old one meant Szegedy could stay close to his customer base.
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