Fantastic Furniture

Fantastic Furniture

Fantastic Furniture logo Fantastic Furniture Store
Type	Public company (ASX: FAN)
Industry	Manufacturing and Retailing
Founded	1989 Sydney, Australia
Headquarters	62 Hume Hwy Chullora, New South Wales 2190, Australia
Key people	Debra Singh (CEO)
Products	Household furniture
Number of employees	850 (2014)
Slogan	Australia's Best Value Furniture and Beddings
Website	www.fantasticfurniture.com.au

Fantastic Furniture is an Australian owned and operated furniture retailer with over 70 Fantastic Furniture stores around Australia. It is renowned for offering consumers quality furniture at an affordable price. The phrase “The Package Deal Kings” is synonymous with the company, allowing consumers to bundle their furniture as a package.^[1] Fantastic Furniture operates under Fantastic Holdings Limited (FHL).

History

Fantastic Furniture started as a market stall at Sydney’s Parklea Markets in 1989, by friends Paul Harding and Jonathan De Jong, selling outdoor furniture. Two years later, the first Fantastic Furniture store opened at Birkenhead Point, New South Wales (NSW).^[2]

The following year the Fantastic Lounge Factory (FLF)^[3] opened and started production on an exclusive range of Australian made sofas and lounges for Fantastic Furniture.

During this time, the Fantastic Furniture brand grew rapidly, however, the business couldn’t keep up with the demand and in 1996 it went into administration. The business was subsequently acquired by Peter Brennan, Peter Draper and Julian Tertini and underwent a restructure.^[4] Over the next few years a number of Fantastic Furniture stores opened across NSW, and in 1999 the first Fantastic Furniture catalogue was distributed to over 1 million households.^[5] That same year, FHL was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX:FAN).^[6]

In 2006, FHL expanded its manufacturing division by acquiring Royal Comfort Bedding (RCB),^[5] a NSW mattress manufacturer, which enabled Fantastic Furniture to produce its mattress range in Australia.

Today, Fantastic Furniture is a national chain with over 70 stores around the country and is Australia’s leading value furniture manufacturer and retailer, providing a range of affordable packages and individual furniture items and accessories to suit a variety of lifestyles and tastes at everyday low prices.^[7]

Fantastic Lounge Factory (FLF)

Fantastic Furniture has been manufacturing Australian made sofas and lounges since 1992. Today, the Sydney based factory is the largest manufacturer of sofas in the Southern Hemisphere^[4] and produce and deliver over 130,000 sofas and lounges each year. In 2014, the company launched a new MyChoice fabric range, consisting of over 100 fabrics and redesigned their sofa and lounge range.^[8]

Royal Comfort Bedding (RCB)

In 2006, RCB joined Fantastic Holdings Limited, which gave Fantastic Furniture the ability to self-produce their entire mattress range. They manufacture 10 different mattress styles and over 120,000 Australian made mattresses every year.^[3]

Mother's Day Survey (2014)

Every year Fantastic Furniture conducts a Mother’s Day Survey to keep track of household habits. The 2014 survey of more than 3000 Australians revealed that an unequal share of housework is a major cause of arguments between men and women, with 75% of women carrying out the bulk of cleaning duties and 58% feeling resentful as a result.^[7]

Townsville Megastore Opening (2014)

On 22 November Fantastic Furniture opened its 75th store in Townsville located in Northern Queensland. CEO Debra Singh said the company would bring national pricing to Townsville without the extra cost of freight and other costs added by other retailers - “We are going to bring national pricing to North Queensland, which means you don’t pay any more in Townsville than what you pay in Brisbane or Sydney.” ^[9]

References