Delmarva furniture giant Johnny Janosik is heading north.
The company, using its favorite advertising medium of TV, rolled out a teaser ad in the Philadelphia TV market for a store or stores in “Wilmington and Christiana.” The commercial featured a line of trucks moving out of a warehouse.
Further hints regarding the expansion come in help wanted ads for managers and staff on the Janosik website.
No location or locations were listed.
Business Now readers also reported a coming soon sign for Janosik at the former Brandywine Town Center and at Centerpoint, a shopping center near Christiana Hospital.
Brandywine Town Center is already the home of Bob’s Discount Furniture. Bob’s is owned by a private equity firm and is building a nationwide footprint.
The expansion comes after the company opened a new location in Dover last year that consolidated two stores in the state capital.
Company founder John Janosik, whose television commercials were a TV mainstay in Delmarva, passed away in 2016 at age 90. The Janosik family is also well known for its philanthropic work in Delmarva.
Until now, the company, listed as one of the nation’s 100 largest furniture retailers, had stayed with the Eastern Shore TV territory, which is dominated by locally-owned WBOC and its sister TV and radio properties.
The retailer got its start in Laurel in a converted chicken house. The town near the Maryland line in western Sussex County remains the home of Janosik’s flagship store.
Laurel accounts for much of the company’s more than a quarter of a million square feet of retail space. The company, at one point, flew a drone through the expansive store space in a video piece.
Janosik management did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (See earlier story below on Dover store).
