Tom Nadeau likens buyers in his furniture stores to people on a treasure hunt.
"Customers find something new every time they visit," said Nadeau, who started his business in 1991 by buying and reselling unique wooden furniture acquired from producers around the globe.
Nadeau opened his 36th store last week by expanding into the Chattanooga area with a 6,000-square-foot store at 2288 Gunbarrel Road, which is near Shallowford Road and close to Hamilton Place mall.
The new furniture outlet is across the street from Rooms to Go and near more than a half dozen other furniture stores, including Ethan Allen, Ashley Homestore, La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries, Basset Home Furnishings, Total Concepts Furniture and others. But Nadeau is far different from the other furniture retailers, offering unique wooden tables, shelves, dressers, desks and other items at discounted wholesale prices from furniture makers around the world.
"It's very eclectic furniture, probably 90 percent of which is wooden furniture, and the prices are just fantastic," said Donna Mitchell, the general manager for the new Nadeau store who previously managed Total Concepts Furniture. "We bring items in by container and try to keep the prices of what we have as low as possible, especially for some very unique and special furniture items we offer."
Tom Nadeau and his wife, Angel, who live in Los Angeles, personally travel throughout the world and pick the furniture and accessories that are sold in each store. The company originally started by selling wholesale to the trades and Nadeau ultimately decided a decade ago to go into the retailing end of the business himself.
After opening five stores last year, Nadeau has opened stores this year in Knoxville, Detroit and Chattanooga and is preparing to add another outlet in Pittsburgh.
The new Chattanooga store is located in a storefront formerly used by the Regency Beauty Institute and features hundreds of handcrafted, solid wood and metal items that the company bills as "furniture with a soul."
"Nadeau loves Tennessee," said company president Brian Pickler. "We have stores in Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, and now Chattanooga. We look forward to building lasting relationships with people in the Chattanooga area and helping bring our brand of soul into their lives and home decor."
The new store is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.