Goldsteins to open fourth store Oct. 9

Goldsteins is set to open a new store in the midst of other furniture retailers.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
BOARDMAN -- Continuing the growth of Goldsteins Furniture isn't just a business plan for Steve Goldstone. It's also a way to carry on his father's dream.
Goldstone, company chief executive, is dedicating Goldsteins' fourth store to Arthur Goldstone, who died last year after many years of running the company.
"This was done in memory of my father," Goldstone said from inside the new store on Boardman-Poland Road. "Having a fourth store meant a lot to him and he always liked this site."
His father had tried for years to buy the site at the top of the hill across from Boardman Park, but the owner was hoping to land a larger retailer that would use the entire site.
After his father died, Goldstone kept pushing to buy the site and finally reached an agreement to buy eight of the 19 acres. Castle Properties of Boardman has the remaining acres for sale.
Goldstone said the site is important because it's the last piece of vacant land along the busy retail strip and the opening of several other furniture stores has made the area a destination for furniture shoppers.
The new store is to open Oct. 9. With the company's Canfield store becoming an outlet store, Goldsteins will have four stores.
Another location
Goldstone, who is the fourth generation to run the 97-year-old company, had been working with his father in recent years to keep the company growing.
In 1998, they moved out of the Eastwood Mall and opened a larger, free-standing store about a mile east of the mall. Two years later, they closed their Sharon store and opened a larger store in Hermitage, which also is home to the company's offices.
Goldstone said his father told him just before he died that he wanted the growth to continue.
"I know what I need to do," Goldstone said.
More stores are coming, though they won't be too far from the company's Sharon warehouse, he said. Possibilities include the Pennsylvania cities of New Castle, Grove City, Erie and Meadville, as well as Austintown, he said.
"We're definitely a growing company. We have a few more projects in us," he said.
For now, however, the focus is getting the Boardman store up and running. The furniture is in place, and a decorating company from North Carolina spent several days last week arranging tables, lamps and other accessories.
The store has 51,000 square feet, which is about 18,000 square feet larger than the Canfield store.
Goldstone said the Canfield store had become too small for today's retail environment. Stores have to provide more choices for customers, he said.
The new store will have 120 sofas, instead of 90 at the other store, and 40 beds, instead of 30.
About 7,500 square feet are dedicated to Broyhill furniture. Goldsteins became a Broyhill dealer recently, and Goldstone said he's excited about having the chance to dedicate a large part of the store to one of the industry's more well-known brands.
Family involvement
The store also features an expanded youth section, which has an entryway made to look like a large crayon box and a walkway painted to seem as if a hopscotch block had been scribbled in chalk.
To add to the effect, little footprints track their way through the section. The footprints were made by Goldstone's niece, Sarah Szalay. An artist painted the bottom of her feet, and her uncle dipped her up and down along the walkway to make the tracks.
The store also has a dining area, which will have coffee, baked goods and a television for those who need a little break during their shopping.
The dining area is named Art's Place in memory of Arthur Goldstone, but his son left another memorial to his father.
On the walkway just outside the front door, he placed a memorial to his father with a dedication and his father's favorite saying, "Cinch by the inch. Hard by the yard."
Goldstone, 40, recalls many times early in his career when he would come to his father because he didn't feel he was making headway in a big project. His father's saying was his way of telling him not to be discouraged.
"That was his saying all along," Goldstone said. "He said that to everybody."
shilling@vindy.com