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How unique is it that the Columbus market is getting a Havertys furniture store this year?

Consider the fact that the Atlanta-based retailer of sofas, beds, mattresses and dining room tables expects to finish 2010 with fewer stores than it began with in January.

"We are not in a store square footage growth mode at all," Jenny Parker,tiffany money clips, Havertys’ senior vice president of finance, said Wednesday. "It’s all about repositioning and being in the right places."

One of the places the retailer wants to be to peddle its middle to upper-middle priced furniture products is Columbus. More specifically, at Columbus Park Crossing on the city’s north side, in space vacated in early 2009 by bankrupt electronics retailer Circuit City.

Parker said Columbus has been on Haverty Furniture Companies’ expansion radar for years, fitting its geographic footprint and distribution network. It even took a look at Columbus Park as the shopping center was coming out of the ground nearly a decade ago.

"We just couldn’t make the numbers work at that point," she said. "But with the Circuit City closure we’re able to get some good rent rates. And looking also at the city and surrounding region, it really looks like it’s ready to have some stable and solid growth for the next few years."

The 125-year-old Havertys chain won’t use all of the 40,000 square feet of space used by Circuit City, Parker said. The showroom will be somewhere between 31,000 and 33,000 square feet.

The company has just begun to remodel the property at 5555 Whittlesey Blvd., on the west end of Columbus Park. It purchased a city building permit a week ago, listing $661,843 worth of construction.

And occupying a former Circuit City store is nothing new for the retailer, the Havertys executive said. In fact,tiffany pendants, old Service Merchandise storefronts and grocery stores have been turned into furniture stores at one point or another.

"We can do a lot of things that are pretty amazing when we are finished," Parker said. "And I don’t think this will be anything too challenging for us. It’s just a matter of time and effort and making sure that we get it right, because once we set the store we don’t want to have to come back."

No firm date has been set for the opening, she said, with the company shooting to be in operation by Thanksgiving. When it does open,tiffany bangles, there will be about 20 employees, including sales, office, delivery people, as well as service technicians.

The company will also begin the process of familiarizing local residents with its brand and services.

"Even though we’re kind of close to Columbus, some people don’t realize our history," Parker said. "But we are a large company, and we get really good values on the products we buy. And we’ve been around a long time."

The Havertys executive stressed the company doesn’t have a strategy of coming into the market and crushing its competition.

"That’s not what we’re about," she said. "But we do have a niche,tiffany key rings, and we feel like we serve that niche pretty well."

The company now has 119 stores in 17 states. That’s two fewer stores than it had in 2009.