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BRAINTREE, MA-Bernie & Phyl's Furniture purchased a 50,000-sf building on a three-acre site at 180 Wood Rd. The Norton-based furniture retailer plans to open a superstore at the site. Financial details of the deal were not released.

The company anticipates opening the store in early 2005. Approximately 50 employees will be hired to staff the Braintree store and for its Norton distribution center.

This is the company's third major expansion in the past two years. In August 2003, Bernie & Phyl's opened a 55,000-sf superstore in Raynham. In October 2003, the retailer completed its 86,000-sf superstore in Nashua, NH. The company says its new superstore is designed to give it an expanded presence in the South Shore area, where the company got its start in 1983. The company plans to convert its 12,000-sf Weymouth store into a Bedding and Clearance Center once this new store opens.