Old Brick Furniture opens Clifton Park store

PHOTOGRAPHER: Erica Miller

Old Brick Furniture employee Nick Desautels of Mechanicville looks at items in the design center at the store in Clifton Park on Wednesday.

CLIFTON PARK – Old Brick Furniture & Mattress Co. recently opened its eighth store in the former Toys “R” Us location on Clifton Country Road.

Company spokeswoman Rachael Clark said the store opened last Friday with eight to 10 sales associates and a leadership team in a high-trafficked retail center that’s less than five miles from Old Brick’s centralized warehouse, which is also new.

The sales team does not work on commission, fostering what the business says is a low-pressure shopping experience.

The 46,000-square-foot store offers “tried-and-true Old Brick favorites” along with new looks and styles that it believes will resonate with the local market, Clark said. It will have Amish-, New York- and Vermont-made brands at the location.

“We remained true to who we are as a business, but adding in new styles focused on things made locally and in the U.S,” Clark said.

During the pandemic, furniture stores have faced significant delays in delivering products to customers from manufacturers, a point Clark acknowledged during an interview Wednesday.

“The pandemic has been a difficult situation for a lot of businesses,” she said. “With growth and demand, we’ve navigated it as best we can. There are lead time delays for many factions in the furniture industry, a lot of which has been out of Old Brick’s control.

“Thankfully, the large majority of our customers have understood that,” she continued. “We work daily with our manufacturers, pushing them and making sure that we do deliver furniture in as timely a manner as possible.

“We are getting back to normal as far as our inventory and stock levels, and we hope to have things equal out over the next six to eight months.”

Michael Fiacco, president and owner of Bennington Furniture, purchased The Old Brick 13 months ago, rebranding Bennington Furniture’s five retail locations.

The Clifton Park location is the first ground-up showroom since the rebranding with both the Old Brick and former Bennington Furniture teams working as one.

“Saratoga County is one of the fastest-growing counties in New York, and the market is great for the value proposition and interior design services that Old Brick offers,” Fiacco said.

Being so close to the Northway makes Clifton Park the perfect central location for both its showroom and new warehouse, given Old Brick’s other locations in Schenectady, Albany and Queensbury, the spokeswoman said.

Old Brick’s other locations are in Massachusetts and Vermont.