In 1955, the Marlo Furniture Company, then operating under the name Ali Baba, started a small family-operated used furniture business. In 1963, the family bought its first major showroom location at 7th and I Streets, N.W. in Washington, D.C., and adopted the name Marlo, a name created from both owners names: “Marilyn” and “Lou.” This location provided the much needed room for Marlo Furniture’s expanding business into new home furnishings for every taste.
In 1972, Marlo expanded the business beyond the downtown location. The warehouse-showroom concept was chosen as the retail vehicle for Marlo’s new 185,000 square foot complex in Forestville, Maryland. The concept was an immediate success!
Sales in Forestville were so vigorous, the Marlo Furniture Company opened a 210,000 square foot warehouse-showroom in Alexandria, Virginia in 1980. Within three years, the Alexandria store surpassed the Forestville location as the largest volume furniture retail outlet in the Mid-Atlantic region.
In 1989, the corporation was again ready to expand, and the next logical location was in the growing Laurel, Maryland area. Marlo Plaza II opened with a 200,000 square foot Home Furnishings Center. The Laurel Showroom surpassed all sales expectations, and during the first year of operation, exceeded projections by 80%.
In August 1995, Marlo added a $20,000,000 Home Furnishings Complex in Rockville, Maryland. This modern furniture retail facility contains 200,000 square feet of display and warehouse.
Today, the Marlo Furniture Company is the biggest retail furniture operation in the Mid-Atlantic states, and is listed by Furniture Today as one of the top 50 volume furniture stores in the country.
Marlo Furniture is the proud recipient of numerous Furniture Industry awards, including the Retailer of the Decade Award; the first recipient of the Retail Furniture Hall of Fame Award presented by the Maryland-DC Home Furnishings Association; and the Showcase Retailer of the Year Award, which is given to the most beautiful store and best merchandising retailer in the country.
The President of Marlo is taking the company his father founded over four decades ago and moving it into the next century. The President says: “On-going customer research and in-depth trend analysis show that the market is ever-changing, so Marlo is, too. We travel to Canada, Germany, Denmark, Italy, China and San Francisco to find the best manufacturers based upon our specifications, and bring together an incredible collection of home furnishings. Customers can expect to see the same styles and brands once exclusively available only at expensive furniture studios and fancy department stores. Thanks to Marlo’s unparalleled buying power, our cost is considerably less…everyday.”
Via Washington Post
