Furniture chain with stores in Treasure Valley sold to Chinese company

Mor Furniture for Less, a San Diego-based retailer with outlets in Boise and Nampa, has reached a $68.4 million deal to sell the 36-store chain to Healthcare Co. Ltd.

Despite its name, the Rugao, China-based purchaser is a global home furnishings producer that owns manufacturing and retail businesses around the world, according to an Oct. 7 news release.

The deal is expected to close by the end of the month. Mor Furniture will operate as an independent business, with executives reporting to China.

The company said Mor will help it better understand the U.S. market.

“The direct day-to-day contact with consumers through Mor’s vibrant retail locations gives us the opportunity to gather critical information about consumer shopping behavior in the U.S.,” said James Ni, chairman and CEO, in a statement.

Richard Haux founded Mor Furniture in 1977 as a waterbed store. It operates in seven states, including Washington, Oregon and Idaho. It has grown to bring in roughly $310 million in sales.

In 2016, Mor Furniture filled the 60,000-square-foot former Macy’s space at the Karcher Mall, joining Ross Dress for Less and Burlington Coat Factory as the shopping center’s anchors.

The Karcher store was Mor’s second in Idaho. It also has a Boise location 19 miles to the east on Fairview Avenue near Curtis Road.

The discount furniture chain has most of its stores along the Interstate 5 corridor in California, Oregon and Washington with isolated single stores in the Intermountain West in Spokane, Reno, Boise, Richland, Washington, and Albuquerque.

It also has four in the Phoenix metro area.

Furniture and bedding retail sales increased an estimated 2.9% in 2018, reaching $111.4 billion. Retail sales totaled $108.2 billion in 2017, 3.2% over sales in 2016 of $104.7 billion. These furniture and bedding sales figures are Furniture Today’s market research estimates, based on personal consumption expenditure data from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.