New Ethan Allen Location Opens in River Edge, NJ

Phil Esposito and Andy Leeds have known each other for 46 years and have been business partners for the last six. Their latest endeavor, along with Mr. Esposito’s son Joe Esposito and nephew Mike Esposito, is the grand opening of the newest Ethan Allen located in River Edge, New Jersey.

“We’ve been in business a long time, both Andy Leeds and the Espositos—over 50 years with Ethan Allen,” Mr. Esposito began. “We had a store in Wayne, New Jersey, that had to close because we lost our lease. Mr. Kathwari, who is the chairman of Ethan Allen, suggested that we look for another place. We looked high and low for other places, from Essex County, to Passaic County, to Bergen County. We found this place, and we thought it was a great location because of the demographics of the area.”

A suburb of New York City on the bank of the Hackensack River, River Edge is in a prime position to pull visitors from northern Bergen County and Rockland County, New York—which is the hope of Mr. Esposito and Mr. Leeds. For those who aren’t as local, however, there are valid reasons to make the trek to the new store.

The Ethan Allen Experience

“It’s a design studio,” Mr. Leeds said, “but we’re really doing more design presentations with the consumer than our regular stores. It’s a smaller footprint, and we have a lot of technology in there. It’s been doing very well for us. We’ve only been open for five weeks.” 

Mr. Leeds continued, “Basically when that customer comes in, she’s greeted by one of our designers. Then the designer tries to find out what she’s looking for. So our designers then try to see if they can go and make an appointment with that potential consumer, visit their home, and then they’re able to take photos of what they have.” 

He explained that store designers employ 3D technology to produce a model of the consumer’s home, including their current furniture. From there, designers insert new furniture, effectively allowing the consumer to preview the furniture in their own space before purchasing. This includes viewing fabrics on upholstery pieces, types of finishes on wood, window treatments, and more. With over a thousand fabrics and 50 different finishes to choose from, the design possibilities are endless.

“It makes it quite an experience,” Mr. Leeds said. “The consumers really have been accepting it. We’re getting a lot of design presentations right now.”

Mr. Esposito added, “We can give [consumers] a tremendous choice for what they would like to make their home look like.”

A 98-year-old iconic, leading home-furnishing chain, Ethan Allen prides itself on providing customers with custom-made, built-to-order furniture. This method presents the utmost luxury shopping experience. Furniture is not the store’s only specialty, however. Supplying windows, lighting fixtures, wallpaper, carpet, and more, Ethan Allen provides a one-stop shop for all interior design needs.

When you’re as experienced as Mr. Esposito and Mr. Leeds—with a total of six stores owned between them—there isn’t much that either has yet to encounter in the business realm. Mr. Esposito said, “There were some issues that postponed our opening that were beyond our control. But once we got opened, there was really nothing that surprised us. There’s not too many surprises anymore.”

“We’d like to become a permanent part of the community,” Mr. Leeds concluded. “We’ve both been in it for over 50 years each and hopefully, this store will be around a lot longer than that for the next generation.”