00:00So Bob's Discount Furniture founded in 1991. Why go public in 2026? Well, first off, thanks for having me today. We're really excited to be holding our IPO today about 35 years from the very, very beginning. Today, the company's been built out. We have the team in place. We're ready to go. We've demonstrated the portability of our model. We have stores coast to coast. Our products are in place. So everything's just in place. It's a great time for us to go public.
00:30And I am curious, you know, as I mentioned, you've raised about $331 million in this debut. How do you plan to spend the money? What's next for Bob's?
00:39Yeah, so that money will actually go to pay off all of our long-term debt. So we will be completely debt-free as a public company, which is very exciting for us. And of course, we generate all of our cash flow goes towards growing. So as we pursue that 500-store model, our operating cash flow and our free cash flow are strong.
00:57But again, the money we're raising in the IPO today is going to pay off all of our debt.
01:02Bill, I am curious going forward here just about sort of the nature of economic cycles and how, if at all, that impacts your business. Obviously, furniture isn't the kind of thing that, you know, we buy regularly.
01:14We buy it once, and hopefully we don't have to do it for a while here. Is there more of a kind of a recurring revenue model baked into what you're doing?
01:21Not that so much. Really, the strength of our model is the fact that furniture is always being bought, right?
01:27There's always these life moments, whether it's the young person setting up their first apartment or a young couple setting up their first home or maybe a couple retiring and downsizing.
01:36Those continue, and as we say, value is always in vogue.
01:39So for, you know, for the last 35 years, we've been growing and taking market share in good times and challenging times.
01:46So we're very confident in our model and our comp growth and, of course, our unit growth.
01:50So we're very excited coast to coast, and we're continuing to grow.
01:54I am curious about the marketing, at least for those folks in New York City.
01:58I mean, your commercials are ubiquitous.
02:00I am curious about other parts of the country and whether there is the same level of brand awareness.
02:06Yeah, well, it's a great question on brand awareness.
02:09So as we think about entering new markets, for example, California a few years back, we take on average two years to study the market and really work on building our brand awareness.
02:19Today, we have 45 percent brand awareness nationally and over 70 percent brand awareness in our major DMAs.
02:25So this last year, for example, we entered North Carolina for the first time, and we entered with strong brand awareness.
02:30But then we leaned in with our iconic marketing to drive that fun, friendly, iconic image that our brand is known for.
02:37Absolutely.
02:38And you can see we have your little character on the screen right now.
02:41So, Bill, as I understand it, you have more than 200 stores right now across 26 states.
02:46Your intention is to grow beyond 500 locations by 2035.
02:51How do you map out that growth?
02:53Are you looking to add more states to that or just expand your footprints in the states that you already have a presence in?
02:59Yeah, it's a great question.
03:01So as you think about the 300 additional stores that will come in the next 10 years, you can roughly break them into thirds.
03:07So about 100 of those will be infill stores in our existing five regions, New England, New York, the Midwest and the West Coast.
03:14About a third of them, about another 100 stores will be in the southeast.
03:18And as I mentioned, we've already entered the southeast this last year in North Carolina.
03:22And then the last third will come from the Texas, Rocky Mountain and Pacific Northwest states as we flesh out our penetration across all 48 states.
03:31So, Bill, when we talk about this idea of the growth that we've seen, I know you've been a private company.
03:35It's obviously very different to operate a private company versus a public company.
03:40Have that scrutiny of investors having to sort of answer to them on a quarter by quarter basis.
03:45Are you ready for that?
03:46Well, it's a great question.
03:48We've been working hard over the last couple of years, remain, to make sure we're ready for this.
03:52We built out the team.
03:54Our CFO has built out his FP&A team and all the things that you need to be a public company.
03:59And, in fact, we've been operating on a quarterly basis as a private company now for a couple of years, just getting ready for this moment.
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