DETROIT _ In his first job, Kim Yost _ now president and CEO of Art Van Furniture _ was fired.
It was in the 1970s and the then-teenager was working in the furniture department of Woodward's, a staid Canadian retailer. Yost lost his job, he said, because he took it upon himself to rearrange the store's furnishings into showroom-style displays.
The story, though, had a good ending _ and a good lesson.
An executive, who later became Yost's mentor, realized what the teen had done was actually good for business, and instead, Yost said, he was rehired, given a raise _ and promoted.
Now, at 63, Yost is planning to re-arrange a lot more than Art Van's furniture.
Nearly a year after the privately held company, based outside Detroit, was sold to Boston-based private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, Yost aims to open more stores, create new concepts and double annual revenues to $2 billion within four years.
He's even challenging Ikea.
When it was sold, Art Van had become one of the largest independent furniture retailers in the country with 130 stores in five states, a franchising program, and about 3,700 employees.
But, Yost, who was hired in 2009 and stayed on as CEO, also faces some big challenges: The internet and buying habits of millennial shoppers, customers now in their 20s and 30s who tend to shop online and spend less on home furnishings than previous generations.
"Think about this: Without the internet nobody could compete from California," Yost said, explaining how e-commerce has created both opportunity and competition for the retailer. "Now with the web, you could be based in California and shipping furniture into Michigan."
Retail commerce sales of furniture and home furnishings in the U.S. is expected to be $36.53 billion in 2017, up 16.1 percent from $31.47 billion last year, according to New York-based research firm eMarketer. By 2020, it is projected to hit $55.33 billion.
But young furniture buyers are spending less on furniture than previous generations. For instance, to redecorate their living rooms, millennials planned to spend $1,500, while for generation X it was $2,500, and baby boomers, $3,000, according to a 2016 Furniture Today survey.
Among Yost's most ambitious ideas for Art Van: A furniture trade-in program, a model he's taking from Detroit's auto industry, which has long boosted new car sales by giving car buyers discounts on their new vehicle when they turn in their old car.
The dealers then sell the trade-ins to other customers seeking lower-priced cars.
Yost seeks to apply that same approach to furniture. The profit margins on used and reconditioned furniture, he acknowledged, are likely to be thin. But, a trade-in program would encourage more new sales and provide the company with inventory to customers seeking the lower-priced furniture.
In the next few months, he added, the company is going to test a trade-in program by taking customers' old furniture and giving them gift-card credit for a new purchase.
"There are so many households that have furniture and they don't know what to do with it," Yost said. "Our goal is to free up rooms in the home so people will be encouraged to buy new."
To achieve his plans, Yost said he's asking employees a key question: Has anyone tried to fire you?
"If not," Yost said, "it's highly likely that we're not changing enough. We're not challenging enough, We're not pushing enough newness and change. If you're not pushing the envelope, there's an argument you're just playing it safe."
