L. NAZARETH TWP., Pa. — A new location for a growing furniture chain celebrated its grand opening on Friday by contributing thousands of dollars to Easton nonprofits.
Following a week-and-a-half soft opening, Bob’s Discount Furniture officially cut the ribbon on its new spot at 3764 Nazareth Road.
Visitors and customers browsed the sizable stock of furniture throughout the morning prior to the big event, exploring displays of bedroom and living room setups with clearly marked pricing — a staple of the business, which prides itself on avoiding the painstaking task of negotiations.
But according to Bob’s officials, the celebration isn’t relegated to opening a new shop or selling more furniture. Rather, it’s about connecting with the community.
As such, the staff at Bob’s presented local nonprofits Third Street Alliance and The Easton Area Neighborhood Center with checks for $2,500 each as a “random act of kindness” — really, that was the line on the giant check memo.
“Every grand opening, we have at least two charities that we donate to," General Manager Ricardo Cruz said. "Besides that, we also hold charity work in our stores.
"Every single store, we actually have free cafe, from which we can give donations to certain businesses and certain organizations. We have the plushie, which is a Bob plushie, from which $5 goes to more charities.”
'Kind of gearing up'
The free café at Bob’s offers free coffee, tea, ice cream, candy and cookies to customers, with all donations at the café — which Bob’s matches — contributed to Covenant House.
That organization provides “safe housing and holistic care to youth ages 16–21 experiencing homelessness and survivors of human trafficking,” according to the organization’s website.
The company was founded by Bob Kaufman and Gene Rosenberg in 1991, with the first store opening in Newington, Connecticut, featuring Kaufman as the face of the company, which helped cement brand recognition.
The brand spread throughout New England in the 1990s and became well-known for its no-frills shopping experience and straightforward pricing.
The new Bob’s marks the chain’s 201st location, its second in the Lehigh Valley — there’s another at Lehigh Valley Mall in Whitehall Township — and it said it's aiming to reach 500 soon.
“We've had better turnout than we actually thought we would have," Cruz said. "So we actually are kind of gearing up and kind of trying to get more staffing and kind of seeing what we can do to keep growing the business.”
And that’s another benefit for Third Street Alliance, which aims to help families in need become more self-sufficient via connections to job opportunities and care services for children so parents can pursue those openings.
'Commitment to the community'
Easton City Councilwoman Crystal Rose at Friday's event said, “I was really excited to hear about a company coming into the area and celebrating their grand opening with donations to two of the city of Easton’s very valuable nonprofits.”
“I think they should know that each dollar is going to help support people in need, and it's going to do good work in the community.
"I'm here to help welcome them to the area and celebrate their contributions.”
Easton Area Neighborhood Executive Director Allison Czapp said the contribution her organization received will help with its farming season, which now is at its height.
With an unprecedented need for food in vulnerable communities, the contribution will be vital to helping “end hunger in Easton, support our farming program, and get fresh, healthy, organic foods on the plates of our residents,” Czapp said.
“We are so grateful to Bob's for the random act of kindness donation,” Czapp said.
“You know, we're coming into a time where we're seeing the need increase very rapidly. It's very alarming.
"So for a corporation to come in and understand what their commitment to the community should look like and offer us that support, we're very grateful.”
Third Street Alliance Executive Director Alisa Baratta said she was pleased to see businesses in the community investing in that community — not only by offering up work, but by contributing to the nonprofits which care for residents in need.
And the contribution from Bob’s will go a long way to help Third Street Alliance in their mission, Baratta said.
“We'll probably use it for our workforce development and kind of support the work that we're doing," Baratta said, "to get people who are in our shelter and in our housing programs back to work faster.
"Because living wage jobs are so important, and that's why a new business opening is really important."
