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First Posted: 6/11/2014 WILKES-BARRE TWP. &#8211; A fast-growing furniture store chain is entering the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton market with a new store being readied in the former Circuit City at the Wilkes-Barre Township Commons off Mundy Street.
Connecticut-based Bob&#8217;s Discount Furniture obtained a building permit June 5 for renovations to the nearly 34,000-square-foot store that has been vacant since Circuit City went bankrupt in 2009, said Tom Zedolik, township zoning officer.
&#8220;Basically it&#8217;s an interior remodel of an existing structure,&#8221; Zedolik said. &#8220;The work started last week.&#8221;
Plans submitted to the township show a sales floor of 29,723 square feet, with the balance used for offices and storage, he said.
Liz Aqualino, a spokeswoman for Bob&#8217;s, said the projected opening would be later this summer, and the store would employ about 20.
A &#8220;career event&#8221; is being promoted for June 19 on employment websites and with Pennsylvania Career Link. There will be presentations about the company and the opportunity for job applicants to meet and ask questions of human resources and other staff members. The location hasn&#8217;t been announced, but applicants for commission sales and office associates are being sought. Bob&#8217;s also is running ads for a store manager on several employment websites.
Trade publication Furniture Today ranked Bob&#8217;s the 14th highest volume furniture retailer in the nation in 2013, with sales of $758 million in 47 stores. The company entered the Philadelphia region earlier this year with the opening of three stores.
Known for its deliberately amateurish television commercials featuring founder, Bob Kaufman, Bob&#8217;s has been controlled by private equity firms for a decade. Bain Capital took control in the first quarter of 2014, paying a reported $350 million for the majority staked owned for the previous nine years by KarpReilly/Apax.
The new store will enter a market that has seen a number of locally owned furniture retailers close in recent years, including Kaplan&#8217;s (replaced by Kurlancheek Furniture), Bedroom Warehouse, Fainberg&#8217;s, Beiter&#8217;s and Bartuska&#8217;s.

Bob’s Discount Furniture set for Wilkes-Barre Twp.