CHICAGO—Art Van Furniture has been planning to expand into the Chicago metropolitan area for several years and now has their first official footprint. On Monday, the Michigan-based retailer celebrated the opening of its 183,500-square-foot distribution space in the Bolingbrook Corporate Center West at 1150 115^th St. in suburban Bolingbrook with a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by the town's mayor and other officials.

“We're going to be growing more,” says Diane Charles, Art Van's director of communications. On Thursday, the firm will open its first local retail outlet, a 48,000-square-foot space at 15080 S. LaGrange Rd. in Orland Park. Since last year, they have been scouting possible locations and executing leases. Their second retail space, in Merrillville, IN, will open on September 7, followed on September 21 with another in Batavia. Two more Chicago stores will open in October, and by early 2014, Art Van will have a total of six metro area locations. Their home delivery service begins next Monday.

“Mr. Van just felt the time was right,” says Charles. The recent upturn in the Midwest's economy did not have any impact on the company's decision-making, she adds. “Mr. Van has been in business for 53 years and his strategy, as a no-debt company, was to always build during a recession. For the last four years we've had a growth strategy.”