Outdoor-furniture manufacturer Summer Classics has opened a showroom in the Richmond area, its first in Virginia.

"We have been looking for a location in Richmond for a while," said Evan Dorman, the company's vice president of retail. "The Richmond area is a cool city. We like the demographics and the population base."

Summer Classics is leasing 12,000 square feet of showroom and warehouse space at 7905 W. Broad St. in western Henrico County. The store, which opened 10 days ago, is the company's 13th factory showroom.

"We sometimes have overruns and overstocks. We might sell a five-piece [outdoor] dining room set for $499, but you can go as expensive as you want," he said. "We can fit into just about anyone's budget."

Summer Classics offers five key outdoor-furniture categories: wrought aluminum, cast aluminum, weatherproof wicker, wrought iron and teak. It has about 25 furniture collections.

"It is amazing how many people put our furniture in a sunroom or a kitchen," Dorman said.

Customers can choose from about 125 outdoor-fabric cushions, 80 percent of which are exclusive to Summer Classics, he said. The cushions are made in a company-owned plant in Alabama. The furniture is made to Summer Classic specifications and designed at various factor ies that it does not own.

The Alabama-based company sells its products to more than 400 independent furniture dealers and through operators who have a license to run 11 Summer Classic stores. Summer Classics has the 13 company-owned and operated stores, including the one in Henrico.

Its products also are sold to retailers including Neiman Marcus, Horchow, Smith & Hawken, Gardeners Eden and Frontgate.

The company began selling a new line of indoor furniture last month. "We have been experimenting with that side of the business for about two years," Dorman said.

More hotels coming

Shamin Hotels Inc., the local company that is one of the largest hotel operators in Virginia, is expanding.

The company plans to open two hotels in the Colonial Heights area: a full-service Holiday Inn with 143 rooms and a Hampton Inn with 129 rooms.

Shamin already operates a Hilton Garden Inn in Colonial Heights and has two hotels each in the Hopewell and Chester areas. The expansion of Fort Lee is creating the need for more hotel rooms and meeting and banquet space in the area, the company said.

The two new hotels in Colonial Heights are among 18 properties Shamin Hotels is building in the next two years, to add to the 24 properties it already owns.

Puerto Rico stores

Circuit City has opened its second store outside of continental U.S. -- and its first in the Caribbean

The Henrico County-based retailer opened one of its new store concepts, called The City, in Puerto Rico last month. A second The City store opens there this month.

"Puerto Rico is an active market," spokesman Jim Babb said. "We're excited to be open there."

The store is in the San Juan market in Guaynabo. The second one will be in Ponce.

Bilingual signs are used at these two stores, Babb said.

The chain has one other store outside of the continental U.S. -- a Circuit City superstore in Hawaii, which opened in the Honolulu market in 1996.

The company operates more than 800 The Source by Circuit City stores in Canada.
Contact Gregory J. Gilligan at (804) 649-6379 or ggilligan@timesdispatch.com.