Mathis Brothers

[Pete]

$16 million building permit today (10/31/14) for a 325,000 square foot distribution center for Mathis Brothers Furniture on the NW corner of Portland and I-40.

The existing 90,000 SF structure will be demolished. The entire parcel is about 16 acres.

[Zuplar]

Well there goes another furniture store.

[catch22]

I know it's close to their store, but Interstate access in that area sucks. Which is what I would assume warehouse and distribution centers care about. But obviously not, UPS has a huge hub down the street along with a ton of other warehouses from other companies and the huge car auction house.

I've always wondered how long that parcel would be undeveloped. Always seemed to be a huge hole in the area.

[Teo9969]

Interstate access does suck in that area, but it's also right by so many of MB's stores, which also have terrible freeway access.

[khook]

Makes perfect sense for a Mathis operation. It is surrounded by Mathis Brothers brands - Mathis Brother Furniture, Factory Direct, Thomasville/Drexel, Bijan Rugs, Lady Americana, Mathis Sleep Studios and the addition of Ashley Stores which are to be built. The site has access to all the different brands. So they are ending up with segmented brands that are not being warehoused on site. Thus the need for a distrubution center.

[Pete]

This is to be a very, very large structure that will likely employ hundreds.

[khook]

Proably a verticle storage type facility... and those types of warehouse dont need hundreds of people to operate. More than likely way under a hundred.

[Charlie40]

Is the building on this property that is being demolished the old Evans furniture location?

[Bellaboo]

Is the building on this property that is being demolished the old Evans furniture location?

Yes, but MB has owned it for years.

[Charlie40]

I know I liked Evans much better than Mathis both in ethics and furniture quality.

[Garin]

Bill Mathis new home. Tennis court on the left and house on the right. 35,000 sqft.

[Snowman]

I know it's close to their store, but Interstate access in that area sucks. Which is what I would assume warehouse and distribution centers care about. But obviously not, UPS has a huge hub down the street along with a ton of other warehouses from other companies and the huge car auction house.

Warehouse space is a balance of cheap land and access, plus the need for large contiguous space that size limits where they can do without moving closer to the edge of the city. The areas near airport road are not much closer to i40 and make you more dependent on i44 which is backs up much more frequently and longer than i40. They probably looked at other options before demolishing 90,000 SF structure.

[kevinpate]

That's a lot of recliners, sofas, coat trees, hamster cages and whatever else they sell. Haven't been inside an MB store in over a decade, and rarely ever see a commercial (thank you dvr.)
But, they've been around a long time and apparently have quite the following.

[Dustin]

So this is going to be their new store or just a distribution center?

[bombermwc]

They've tried turning it into several different types of stores over the years. But the parking lot keeps being pretty empty.

I bought my living room stuff there when it was Rooms Today or whatever, and i actually had a pleasant experience compared to the butt flea experience at MB.

[Bellaboo]

That's a lot of recliners, sofas, coat trees, hamster cages and whatever else they sell. Haven't been inside an MB store in over a decade, and rarely ever see a commercial (thank you dvr.)
But, they've been around a long time and apparently have quite the following.

I caught this......LOL

But shouldn't it have been gerbel cages ?

[catch22]

I caught this......LOL

But shouldn't it have been gerbel cages ?

No, I hear those are free to roam in tight dark holes.

[Bellaboo]

No, I hear those are free to roam in tight dark holes.

You're just a little bit young for this info, which was floating around back in the late '80's.

[catch22]

You're just a little bit young for this info, which was floating around back in the late '80's.

I still know the story

[Bellaboo]

I remember that within a couple of months of the so called 'gerbel rumors', they started doing furniture commercials with their wives.

[Dustin]

Thier commercials were ridiculous

I remember when fowler aired this commercial. I about died laughing.

[Dustin]

This one is better

[catch22]

^ OMG!!!! That is gold.

[kevinpate]

Never cared much for MB commercials, nor for chad stevens commercials, though the spoofs are good. For reasons not completely clear, Kia Soul commercials do sometimes make me laugh.

[rcjunkie]

They've tried turning it into several different types of stores over the years. But the parking lot keeps being pretty empty.

I bought my living room stuff there when it was Rooms Today or whatever, and i actually had a pleasant experience compared to the butt flea experience at MB.

Rooms Today was owned and operated by Mathis Brothers.