By Sarah Wallace

Business of the Day: Leon’s Furniture in Prince Albert

Jan 23, 2013 | 5:42 AM

The Pellegrini family has been in the furniture business in Prince Albert for more than 50 years.

Dean Pellegrini is the current owner of Prince Albert’s Leon’s Furniture and said his family started selling furniture in the city in 1961 when his uncle opened Modern Home Furniture.

Then, 20 years ago Dean and his brother Randy decided to join Leon’s as a franchise store.

“We belonged to a buying group and it made sense, it made things a little easier on the buying decisions. Certainly buying power is probably one of the most important things in our industry. So that was one of the major reasons why,” Pellegrini said.

Leon’s spans a whole city block which allows the Pellegrinis to have the biggest selection in the city and they have a 35,000 square foot warehouse which they stock with almost everything in the store so you don’t have to wait for what you want and need.

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“It’s not perfection but with the large warehouse we try make sure we have inventory on hand and I think we probably run at about over 90 per cent of having inventory ready to go. If you come in and purchase there’s a really good chance that you’re going to have it delivered or take it home that day,” Pellegrini said.

He said being able to offer no waiting is something the family has always strived for.

“We live in an area where people travel quite long distances and when they show up at the store, most of the time they like to take it with them. So it’s something we’ve always thought of and done and it’s also a philosophy of Leon’s,” he said.

Leon’s as a franchise prefers their stores to have an on-location warehouse rather than having to ship out items from provincial warehouses.

Pellegrini said right now they have no need for a larger location because they are set up to handle more growth in Prince Albert.

“We’re hoping that some larger industry will show up around our area. Prince Albert needs to grow a little bit, and it could be handy and helpful for everybody. We can certainly, with what we have, take care of that location. We have a large enough warehouse and large enough store that we can offer a good selection and take care of people’s needs,” Pellegrini said.

With Leon’s being 100 per cent locally owned, it allows the Pellegrinis to not only take advantage of their buying power with Leon’s, but they still have the advantage of being able to do their own thing.

They can expand their product offers to the public and carry more items then what Leon’s can offer allow.

Right now, they have their Leon’s Multi-Million Dollar Inventory Clearance Sale going on.

Leon’s is located at 102 – 15th Street East.

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