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MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — As he closes the book on his longtime store, veteran retailer Mike Kordik’s next chapter is taking him to Furniture First.
Kordik, owner of Joliet, Ill.’s Mike’s Furniture, is winding down a retirement sale at the store he and his brother, Bill, operated for more than 45 years. As he walks away, he’s taking on a new role with the Middletown, Pa.-based cooperative national furniture and bedding buying group. He has been a member of Furniture First since 2001 and was on the board of directors from 2003 to 2016 with a term as chairman.
“I call joining Furniture First my Christmas miracle,” joked Kordik. “I became a Furniture First member on Christmas Eve 2001. I had an idea of how much the rebates would help my bottom line, but that was just the start of the impact my membership had on my business. I’ve learned so much from the other members of the Performance 1st group I was in. These are sharp retailers, and we made each other even sharper when in the group meetings we committed to goals and took steps to realize them.”
Kordik was a member of the first members-only store owners’ performance group at Furniture First. When a second group launched in 2017, he was hired as an independent facilitator. In his new capacity with Furniture First, Kordik will head up performance groups, which will soon grow to four. In addition to overseeing performance groups, Kordik will be the in-house sales lead for Furniture First’s sales analytics package, Tools 2B First, a proprietary version of Tools 2 Win.
“It’s unique to have an employee know so much about us on day one,” said Andrew Kauffman, CEO of Furniture First. “Our staff is excited to take advantage of Mike’s perspective from the other side of the fence.”
Kordik will be at the Las Vegas Market in his new role and can meet with prospective members as well as current members in the lobby of Building A, where the buying group will share a corner of the Snap Finance booth.
