industry furniture retail founded eastpointe michigan 1959 headquarters warren michigan u.s. key people art van elslander founder ; kim yost ceo ; gary van president ; david van president pure sleep products furniture revenue us 700 million 2014 est. number of employees 4 000 website www.artvan.com art van furniture inc. is an american furniture retail store chain . founded in 1959 the company is family owned and headquartered in warren michigan in metro detroit . 1 contents 1 history 2 mattress world acquisition 3 stores 4 marketing 5 references 6 external links history edit art van furniture store ann arbor mi one of the 30 michigan stores art van eslander founded art van in 1959 opening his first store in detroit . 2 van elslander s furniture first business was a 4 000 square foot space in gratiot avenue and 10 mile road . he expanded to three stores in that same year and a fourth store opened in 1960 . his first employee was not hired until this time . 3 art vans furniture later changed to art van furniture opened with mostly modern and danish style furniture . 4 by 1963 van elslander owned seven stores and had taken on some partners including his brother bob van elslander don fox and bob mceachin . 5 the following year three of those stores were sold off however van elslander expanded the chain in the 1970s and in 1973 the company purchased its headquarters in warren michigan . around that time the company had fifteen stores in its chain . in the late 1970s opened several warehouses and a corporate training department . in 1977 the company opened stores outside of detroit in flint and lansing michigan . 3 in 1980 the company issued its first credit card and in 1985 the company introduced clearance centers attached to many of the stores offering overstocked merchandise . 3 in 2009 the company s half centennial art van furniture was named furniture retailer of the year by furniture today magazine . 6 in 2013 the company made a 50 million investment in the state of illinois to open a sequence of new establishments in the state . 7 in 2015 patti smith wrote about art van stores as a favorite hang out of hers during the 1970s . 8 the ceo of the company is kim yost . 9 art van also operates scott shuptrine interiors retail locations . 10 mattress world acquisition edit mattress world store livonia michigan mattress world of michigan was a mattress retailer with 24 stores in michigan and seven in indiana . the company was founded in 1998 when the first store was opened in howell michigan . 11 in may 2011 mattress world of michigan was acquired by art van furniture which said it would keep the mattress world name on some stores while others would be rebranded as art van puresleep . it also said it would keep mattress world s 100 or so employees . 12 13 stores edit the company operates 37 stores located in michigan ohio illinois and indiana a full service e commerce website in addition to 39 freestanding art van puresleep bedding stores . 14 the company also has franchised stores located in the midwest . 15 in 2010 art van acquired brewbaker s furniture which had locations in petoskey and onaway . 16 the onaway store was closed in 2013 . 17 franchise locations have since opened in marquette sault ste. marie mount pleasant 18 gaylord owosso and east tawas along with a puresleep franchise in midland and a franchise of sofa select in mishawaka indiana . 19 the store s first franchise location in illinois opened in 2015 in rockford . 20 the downers grove illinois store opened in 2016 was the chain s largest . 21 art van has transitioned family businesses into art van locations on several occasions . in the fall of 2015 art van converted ingrassia furniture a 93 year old family business to its 11th franchise location . 22 earlier that year the 61 year old independent chain genoa s samsen furniture was converted to art van stores . 23 in all the company has about 100 stores . 24 art van had partnered with paul s tv to open a section for paul s tv to sell televisions inside art van stores . 18 locations were opened however all were closed down by 2015 . 25 other boutique sections have included av flooring and art van furniture also operates three scott shuptrine interior design studios in the state of michigan . 26 art van also produces a mail catalog of its furniture designs . 27 marketing edit in 2015 the company paid out 2.5 million dollars in free furniture to 3000 customers after a promotion that gave away the purchases of customers if it snowed three inches each in the cities of toledo fort wayne and chicago . 28 29 in 2016 art van replaced its regional super bowl advertisements in the detroit and grand rapids areas with a thank you message for donors of water to flint michigan which the company had solicited through its charitable programs . 30 references edit contact us . art van . retrieved on november 7 2013 . art van furniture 6500 14 mile road warren mi 48092 art van elslander reflects on his chicago favorites . michigan avenue magazine . may 18 2016 . a b c janet holt johnstone july 9 2014 . retail success story art van furniture . furniture world magazine . noah barnes february 26 2016 . art van furniture in the midwest . ocean post . john presta april 27 2013 . governor quinn announces retailer art van furniture expands into chicago area . chicago city hall examiner . daniel duggan december 4 2009 . art van furniture named retailer of the year by trade publication . crain s business detroit . graydon megan august 3 2015 . art van furniture opens new flagship store in downers grove . chicago tribune . patti smith 2015 . m train . knopf canada . p. 75 . karen wright 2012 . the complete executive the 10 step system for great leadership performance . bibliomotion inc. p. 13 . http www.record eagle.com news business business in brief article 5dfd690c 7e37 5ca0 868f 6ad90b5c78a2.html staff . av mattress world llc . hoover s. retrieved june 3 2012 . subscription required bomey nathan may 11 2011 . art van furniture acquires mattress world in michigan retail deal . annarbor.com . retrieved june 3 2012 . engel clint may 11 2011 . art van furniture to acquire 28 store mattress world will give chain its first stores outside michigan . furniture today . retrieved june 3 2012 . art van furniture opens new location on coliseum boulevard . wane . february 8 2014 . sherri welch july 12 2015 . art van furniture says 1 billion in sales within reach . crains detroit . art van furniture acquires brewbaker s . schurz petoskeynews . jordan travis april 17 2013 . community worried about loss of art van . the alpena news . art van opens sixth franchise location . crain s detroit business . art van to open first indiana franchise . crain s detroit business . art van furniture 1 october 2015 . art van furniture to open first chicagoland franchise in rockford illinois . thirteen takeaways from art van furniture downers grove ill . . furniture today . july 28 2015 . georgette braun . rockford s 93 year old ingrassia furniture to open as art van franchise in november . rockford register star . jon chaves june 26 2015 . genoa s samsen furniture to be an art van store . toledo blade . modern designs usher in classic dapper style to art van furniture s 2016 spring style catalog . chicago tribune . april 13 2016 . jc reindl april 13 2015 . art van pulls plug on paul s tv . detroit free press . sherri welch march 18 2016 . art van to build new store in canton township right across from ikea . crain s detroit . art van spring catalog and free furniture frenzy . fox 2 . april 16 2016 . lauren abdel razzaq february 3 2015 . art van bets against snow buyers win big . detroit news . art van furniture let it snow winners to be refunded millions in purchases . abc 7 . march 22 2015 . bill shea february 5 2016 . art van replaces regional super bowl tv ads with thanks for flint water donors . crain s detroit . external links edit art van official website history of art van incorporated art van furniture is no couch potato art van furniture retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title art van & oldid 735779538 categories furniture retailers of the united statescompanies established in 1959companies based in macomb county michigan1959 establishments in michiganmattress retailers of the united stateshidden categories pages containing links to subscription only content navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 23 august 2016 at 01 44 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