To celebrate the opening of its two newest New York City stores, Bob's Discount Furniture will donate $27,000 to 16 schools and two youth-focused charities.
The stores, in Brooklyn and the Bronx, are the fourth and fifth Bob's locations in the city and are expected to create more than 130 jobs.
The company operates three other New York stores in Queens and Manhattan. With the two new locations, Bob's will have 47 stores in nine states.
Christian Toerres will manage the 25,114-square-foot Brooklyn store at 2520 Flatbush Ave. John Grimaldi will manage the 29,430-square-foot Co-op City store in the Bronx at 2146 Bartow Ave., in the Bay Plaza Shopping Center.
Grand opening celebrations for both stores will start at 9:45 a.m. on Thursday, May 23, with dignitaries on hand and complimentary refreshments served from the stores' cafes.
Company President and co-founder Bob Kaufman will attend the Brooklyn store ribbon cutting. Cathy Poulin, the company's public relations director, will be at the Bronx store. In addition, former New York Mets pitcher Ron Darling and a number of former New York Giants will be at both stores during the Memorial Day weekend while the New York Islanders' Ice Girls and team mascot, Sparky, will appear at the Brooklyn store from noon to 2 p.m. May 27.
Festivities also will include children's entertainment and a book giveaway and book signing with "Heavenly Skies & Lullabies" author Dr. Kathy Reilly Fallon. She will be at the Brooklyn store from 10 a.m. to noon and at the Bronx store from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. May 23.
"We're thrilled to be expanding our presence in the New York City area," said Kaufman. "We've been embraced by every community that we've entered here, and we're looking forward to introducing Brooklyn and Co-op City to our great values on quality furniture - with no gimmicks and the same low prices every day."
Bob's Outreach program will present checks totaling $27,000 to 16 local schools and two youth-focused charities during the grand openings. The funds are made possible by customer donations to collection jars in the cafes in Bob's store, which offer free refreshments (including gourmet coffee and cookies) to shoppers.
