Sam Levitz Furniture history

With $20,000 borrowed from their father, his sons Ralph and Leon opened a store of their own in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, in 1936.

Tucson IS a sustainable community and Sam Levitz furniture, a locally owned and operated company since 1953 is proud to receive the 3rd place nomination in the "Arizona's Greenest Workplace challenge" contest sponsored by Mrs.

A second one opened in Phoenix the following month and a third in Miami in October 1965.

In the fiscal year covering 1968, sales reached $39.5 million, and in the following year, during which five more stores were opened, to $67 million.

By 1970 Levitz was averaging more than $120 in sales per square foot of selling space, compared to the industry average of $26.54 in medium-sized stores and $54 in large stores.

During fiscal 1971 the 34 Levitz stores had sales of $183.8 million and a net profit of $9.2 million.

With its stock falling below $5 a share in 1973, Levitz not only lacked the means to finance further growth but developed a cash-flow problem.

November 1, 1974, the current Warehouse Showroom was opened to the public

In 1975, a recession year during which the housing market was hard hit, it lost $142,000 on sales of $326.3 million.

In 1977 Levitz announced it would place its primary expansion emphasis on gaining deeper penetration in its existing markets rather than venturing into new ones.

The holdings of Levitz family members fell from 22.5 percent to only 5.5 percent by 1983, the year Ralph Levitz retired as chairman.

The investors who initiated LFC rewarded themselves with cash payments of about $215 million from $257 million obtained in new financing during late 1986.

Net income hit an LFC high of $17.9 million in fiscal 1989.

For fiscal 1994 (ended March 31, 1994), net sales increased to $983.6 million from $922.4 million the previous year.

In fiscal 1995 (ended March 31, 1995) Levitz passed the $1-billion mark in net sales and had net income of nearly $4 million.