Every year, City Furniture donates 5% or more of its profits to charitable organizations—now known as the “5% Giving Pledge.”
And from October through December of this year, the top 100 retailer is raising $500,000 for the American Cancer Society (ACA).
Part of this plan—dubbed the Pink Pumpkin initiative—is especially near and dear to City’s heart because Doreen Koenig, wife of City Furniture CEO Keith Koenig and the mother of President Andrew Koenig, lost her battle with breast cancer not long ago.
But even before becoming ill with the disease herself, she was a champion for breast cancer research. In one of her last moments, Andrew recalls that Doreen demanded that Keith and him order 20,000 pink jack-o-lantern candy buckets to hand out in our showrooms and at the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk that October.
“The ‘Pink Pumpkins,’ as I call them, are not just buckets to me anymore,” Andrew said in an email to employees. “They are a symbol of my mom’s memory. They’re a celebration of her spirit, and the spirit of all who have been touched by breast cancer in some way. They inspire all of us to work harder to spread awareness and find a cure, in honor of the ones we love.”
On Doreen’s behalf, City took the “Pink Pumpkins” idea to the next level, installing elaborate table-top displays filled with professionally hand-carved, pink pumpkins, and signage that will drive fundraising directly to the ACA in City’s showrooms and in partner locations across the entire state of Florida.
City is also raising money for the ACA through its Test Rest “Get & Give” program, where they give a $25 gift card to a guest who does a comfort test rest in our mattress galleries and in turn also donate $25 to the ACA on their behalf.
They plan to raise $500,000 for the ACA —with $350,000 coming solely from customers who test rest. And this also helped boost the retailer’s bedding category.
“During covid, 2020, as we reopened, we started to notice that bedding performance was dropping down and not rebounding like other categories,” says Kevin Split, director of marketing. “So Andrew and I devised a plan to get salespeople to convert people back into bedding.”
The initiative worked, and Split reports that of the customers who test rested and received an email, they converted one out of four into bedding. They also raised the average ticket of a bedding purchase from $675 to over $2,000.
The company is already on pace to exceed its $500,000 goal, and Andrew says he’s grateful for the support.
“I was extremely moved by how many have reached out about their own experiences with breast cancer,” he said in an email to employees. “The City family has truly done an amazing job at making this initiative spread awareness and spark action. The past year and a half has been a powerful reminder that we are all in this together, and our choices and actions have the power to protect the most vulnerable among us in a big way. The same holds true when it comes to breast cancer.”
