Cousins Home Furnishings Posts $2.9-Million Loss

Cousins Home Furnishings, which operates 21 Brick Warehouse stores in California, on Thursday reported a $2.9-million loss for the third quarter ended March 31, compared to a $289,000 profit during the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue rose 7% to $34.4 million.

Losses for the first nine months of Cousins’ fiscal year totaled $9.4 million on revenue of $98 million, compared to $679,000 in profits on revenue of $56.6 million in the nine months of the previous year.

Chairman Michael McKeon blamed the third-quarter losses on the closing for several days of 21 Cousins stores during January and February. During that time, the stores were remodeled and restocked, and later they were reopened under the name Brick Warehouse.

McKeon said Cousins has “no additional stores to convert” to the new design. He added that Cousins has no plans to expand its number of stores at this point. “We plan to maximize our current operations,” he said.

Cousins grew from having three stores in April, 1983, to having 24 locations in late 1984. That rapid expansion, company officials have acknowledged, occurred “too fast and we couldn’t digest it as quickly as we thought we could.”

Cousins officials blamed a $6.1-million loss in fiscal 1984 on skyrocketing operating costs.

Last June, a Canadian furniture and appliance retailer that has rights to the Brick Warehouse name bought 56% of Cousins stock.