History
Bernard Goldberg and his younger brother, Arnold Goldberg, co-founded the first Raymour Furniture store, the predecessor of Raymour & Flanigan, in late 1946 in downtown Syracuse, New York. The Goldberg brothers did not name their new store "Goldberg" because another store in the city owned by their relatives already used their given name. Instead, the brothers named their furniture store after an antiques shop on Long Island which was owned by another brother.
Decades later, Bernard and Arnold Goldberg opened a second Raymour Furniture store in Clay, New York, in 1972. The same year, Bernard Goldberg's son, Neil, joined the family-owned company.
By 1990, the Raymour Furniture store had expanded to seven locations. The Raymour company acquired its competitor, Flanigan's Furniture, which operated fourteen stores in the Buffalo and Rochester areas, in 1990. The acquisition gave Raymour & Flanigan its present name and expanded its presence in western New York.
Raymour & Flanigan expanded rapidly in the 1990s and 2000s (decade), becoming one of the largest furniture retailers in the United States. The company reported sales of over $1 billion in 2011 from 95 stores. By 2010, Raymour & Flanigan had 95 locations throughout the Northeast United States, including locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, New York and Massachusetts.
Raymour & Flanigan Furniture purchased Alpert’s Furniture in 2007, thus expanding its market to Rhode Island. In December 2007, Raymour & Flanigan Furniture acquired 18 Levitz Furniture store locations in the New York Metro market.
Founder Bernard Goldberg remained the chairman of Raymour & Flanigan until his death in 2010, though deteriorating health caused his withdrawal from the day-to-day business of the company during his later years. Raymour & Flanigan is currently headed by two of Goldberg's sons - President and CEO Neil Goldberg and Executive Vice President Steve Goldberg - as well as his nephew, Executive Vice President Michael Goldberg, as of 2010.
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