"Think globally and act locally," advises Clive Lubner, CEO of Robb & Stucky home furnishings and designs. "Look after the details as hard as you look after your customer."

Lubner should know. As head of one of Southwest Florida's most on-the-go companies, he has turned a well-respected local mainstay into a national climber.

The success is much more than luck -- to Lubner it's a continuing challenge. "We have great looking stores, well trained people dedicated to the most excellent customer service; we have available inventory due to warehouses in three states and a sophisticated computer system," he says. "We keep challenging ourselves, as we challenge our manufacturers to join us in our mission to give our customers exactly what they want, when they want it."

And as Lubner celebrates his 20th year of leadership at Robb & Stucky, he can comfortably sit back -- in any of thousands of pieces of furniture -- and reflect on the 85-year foundation of the privately owned company, which today brings in annual revenues in the neighborhood of $150 million.

Lubner works closely with Robb & Stucky President Fred Berk, a veteran in the furniture industry. The pair is now looking to shift up another gear, aiming for even bigger expansions and more markets in years ahead. "We expect the company to be a $250-$300 million organization in the next five years," Lubner says. "In the next 20, we expect to be the dominant furniture retailer in four to five additional markets."

The plan is ambitious, to say the least. But then again, the Robb & Stucky company has never been short of ambition.

Living up to the Past

The legacy begins 84 years ago, when the streets of Fort Myers were paved with oyster shells and homes were few and far between. Residents Virgil C. Robb and W.R. Lee took up a partnership, opening a Main Street merchandise emporium stocked with appliances and furniture.

When Harry C. Stucky joined the firm two years later, the company took a shift away from appliances, instead adding rugs and Victrolas to the inventory. Lee later left the firm -- and the name Robb & Stucky came to be.

By 1924, the growing company moved into its own four-story, 20,000 square-foot building on Hendry Street. The company's well-known customer satisfaction focus, coupled with a boom in population in Southwest Florida, lead to 40 years of solid business.

In 1958, the partners sold their firm to Louis and William Bowles, two brothers from North Carolina. The Bowles kept the well-respected name and added a drapery department and interior design service. They also began to bring top-brand home furnishings into the merchandising mix.

In 1967 Robb & Stucky changed hands once more, as sales manager Herbie Arnsdorff bought the company with Stephen Bowles. The firm moved to a 30,000 square-foot store on Colonial Boulevard, south of downtown Fort Myers. The first 14,000 square-foot Robb & Stucky Naples also opened its doors. Both locations faced an almost immediate need to expand due to customer demand.

Enter one Clive Lubner, a South African who moved to Southwest Florida with his family and a great deal of foresight. He had chosen the area over larger cities for the quality of life and potential. "Southwest Florida was a better choice for our family, to be able to integrate smoothly into the community," he says. "Also, research showed an enormous growth explosion was ready to happen in Southwest Florida, and we wanted to be part of it."

Lubner grew up within his family's furniture business, which consisted of 100 stores serving an enormously diverse demographic population. "In South Africa," he says, "you're accountable for everything, from the balance sheet to the back of the house ... from merchandising to displays, and advertising to customer service. It was a complete business experience."

In 1979, he partnered with the Mariner Group, a restaurant management company, to purchase Robb & Stucky from Arnsdorff. Mariner later became a minor shareholder, as Lubner became one of the largest.

In 1980, the group purchased the Robb & Stucky Naples operation, expanding it three more times and remodeling its storefront. The next decade signaled a dramatic shift into larger and more lucrative ventures.

The growth continues today to dramatic new heights -- national recognition, bold corporate moves and gigantic showrooms. At last count, Robb & Stucky ranks 29th in industry magazine Furniture Today's top 100 list of U.S. furniture stores. A combination of factors have worked towards the company's success.

Getting Out of the Gallery

In 1991 Lubner decided to move away from the industry standard of gallery merchandising, where customers view furniture and accessories by vendor. Lubner instead grouped the items by lifestyle preferences -- he named them Relaxed Living, Contemporary Living, Leather Living, Gracious Living, Easy Living and Special Places. "People keep treasured pieces and decorate around them," he explains. "Shopping by lifestyle is much easier and more exciting."

The end result has been complete rooms for customers to look at -- not just bits and pieces made by single vendors. "We were the first in the country to do it," Lubner reflects. "And we did it because it was in the customer's best interest."

Accompanying the lifestyle philosophy was an expansion to gigantic showrooms stocked with a wide range of furnishings, from mid-range pieces to exclusive designer fare. In 1997, the company moved its corporate operations to a 60,000 square-foot Fort Myers showroom on U.S. 41 near the intersection of Daniels Parkway. The corporate offices are located upstairs. The mammoth showroom is downstairs.

Last October Robb & Stucky completed the third expansion of its Mediterranean-style Naples showroom, headed by general manager George Labance. Those who arrived for the store's reopening celebration were amazed by enormity of the two-story, 85,000 square-foot showroom -- the largest of its kind in Southwest Florida. Some guests joked that they might get lost in one of the dozen or so maze-like rooms.

The showrooms are the source of continual traffic. Customers and non-buying gawkers alike travel through the rooms, sometimes taking pictures or discussing with spouses how they might incorporate certain items into their own rooms. There's a lot to take in.

The trend toward size isn't just to impress. Lubner says it's necessary to stay competitive. "The home furnishings industry trends reflects the business world in general: consolidation," he says. "In our arena, it's a reality for both furniture manufacturers and retailers ... the big fish gobbling up the little one."

The showrooms work hand-in-hand with regional warehouses and a sophisticated computer inventory system. Each store carries merchandise targeted to a local demographic. The Naples showroom, for example, may carry some items that the Fort Myer