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CEO Bill Barton of Bob’s Discount Furniture rings the Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Feb. 5, 2026.
NYSE
Shares of Bob's Discount Furniture climbed on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday after the company priced its initial public offering at $17 per share.
That price was within Bob's expected range of $17 to $19 per share and valued the company at about $2.22 billion. The stock, trading on the NYSE under the ticker symbol BOBS, was last up about 2%.
The Manchester, Connecticut-based company, which was founded in 1991, has grown to 206 showrooms across 26 states, as of Sept. 28, according to its S-1 filing. It plans to more than double that store count to over 500 locations by 2035, the filing said.
In an interview with CNBC, CEO Bill Barton said that even in a slow housing market and during a time when consumers have hesitated to splurge on some big-ticket items, Bob's has seen demand for buying furniture across all incomes.
"People still need furniture, but in challenging times they are often looking for good value and we are the value leader," he said.
Many of its customers are motivated by life changes, such as setting up a new apartment, buying a home, having a child or downsizing for retirement, he said.
Barton said Bob's has seen more significant customer gains among higher-income households in recent years. About 27% of its customers have an annual household income of more than $150,000, and that part of the customer base is growing the fastest. He said that group is up by about 3% as a share of Bob's shoppers in the past two years.
About half of its customers have an annual household income of more than $100,000, he said.
Bob's is known for selling lower-priced couches, rugs, dining room tables and other furniture. It has an average order value of about $1,400 per transaction, excluding sales at its outlets, according to its S-1 filing. The retailer estimates its prices are on average about 10% lower than its value-focused furniture competitors' lowest promoted prices or about 20% to 25% below their listed prices.
To keep prices low, the company said it relies on a "curated merchandising strategy, longstanding sourcing relationships and efficient supply chain," according to the filing. It carries roughly one-third fewer items than value-oriented competitors, but orders in larger quantities, the filing said.
It's also tried to stand apart from other furniture retailers with quicker deliveries. Instead of customers waiting for weeks or months, most purchases can be delivered in as few as three days, the company said in the filing.
With its new locations, Bob's plans to add to both existing and new markets, Chief Financial Officer Carl Lukach told CNBC. It plans to open stores in regions where it already has high density, such as in the Midwest and the New England area, but also expand to new states this year, including South Carolina and Tennessee.
Initial public offerings in the U.S. are expected to gain momentum this year, as waning inflation and interest rate cuts are expected to nudge late-stage private companies off the sidelines, according to a report by consulting firm PwC. They'll build on a decent past year for IPOs, too. Traditional IPOs raised $33.6 billion in 2025, which represented the best year since 2021.
This year, IPO activity may be led by artificial intelligence infrastructure, insurance and specialty risk companies, and AI-enabled software platforms, according to PwC. Industrials and manufacturing, including reshoring, aerospace and defense, and energy or grid-related infrastructure have gotten higher interest, too.
One of the widely anticipated IPOs this year is of Elon Musk's company SpaceX. News of the potential IPO broke in December and Musk called reports about the planned offering "accurate."
