As anyone who’s recently moved into a new home or apartment knows, the furniture industry is booming right now. As of 2023, the United States’ furniture market recorded $243.8 billion in revenue. Meanwhile, the market should continue to grow annually by 3.91 percent.

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If you own a furniture store, you’re in an excellent position to benefit from this growth—as long as you put serious thought into risk mitigation. Like any other retail business, even well-managed furniture stores can be affected by unforeseen issues. Here, you’ll find a comprehensive rundown of the risks furniture stores face and information on how the right insurance policies can help you deal with these potential problems.

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^{What is a furniture store?} 

Technically, any retail business that sells furniture can be considered a “furniture store.” Some common types of furniture stores include:

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• Traditional furniture stores. When most people think about visiting a furniture store, traditional furniture stores are what they have in mind. These stores offer all kinds of furniture options from multiple brands and manufacturers.
• Branded furniture stores. These are mostly similar to traditional furniture stores, but there’s one significant difference—the products they carry. Branded furniture stores are operated by individual furniture manufacturers and only sell furniture from these companies.
• Office supply stores. Though they don’t focus exclusively on furniture, office supply stores typically offer ready-to-assemble furniture pieces for home offices. These stores can sell office chairs, desks, storage solutions, and more.
• Department stores. Like office supply stores, department stores do not focus exclusively on furniture. However, these businesses can still carry a respectable selection of furnishings.

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No matter what type of furniture store a consumer prefers, they should do their research before buying furniture from one of these businesses. Ideally, a furniture store will provide high-quality products, a wide variety of furniture, and affordable prices.

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^{What risks do they have?} 

Like any business, furniture stores must have a plan to deal with risks. A few of the most noteworthy threats these stores must contend with include:

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^{Injuries to customers}

If you operate a furniture store, your showroom is open to members of the public on a daily basis. And even in a relatively low-risk environment, there’s always a chance that a customer will get injured.

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^{Injuries to workers}

Visitors to your furniture store aren’t the only people who could get hurt on your property. If one of your employees so much as trips over a piece of furniture, you could find yourself dealing with everything from medical expenses to legal costs.

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^{Property damage/theft}

Any type of retail business can fall victim to theft—but without insurance, you might be on the hook for replacement furniture. On top of that, your products could easily be damaged in unforeseen events like fires and floods.

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^Cybercrime

These days, just about any business can face cyberattacks and data breaches. Assuming your furniture store deals with credit card numbers or any other type of sensitive information, cybercrime is something you’ll need to take seriously.

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^{Auto accidents}

Does your furniture store offer delivery services? If it does, there’s always a risk that your delivery vehicle will get involved in an accident—and the costs associated with incidents like these can be steep.

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^{What insurance do they need?} 

None of the risks listed above can be eradicated, but furniture store owners can find ways to deal with them. As you might expect, buying insurance can help in this regard. Some policies you should consider buying for your store include:

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^{General liability insurance}

Even if you put a great deal of thought into mitigating risks around your furniture store’s showroom, something could still go wrong—and a customer could get hurt as a result. And after a buyer takes their purchase home, they could end up suing you if a product you sold them causes an injury.

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Fortunately, general liability insurance can help you deal with situations where a customer is injured at your store or hurt by an item they bought from you. These policies can also protect you from advertising injuries (such as slander/libel or unintended copyright infringement). General liability insurance is so essential that most businesses looking to obtain a commercial lease need to have this form of insurance in place before doing so.

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^{Commercial property insurance}

It’s no secret that furniture can get expensive—and if items in your inventory are stolen, you shouldn’t have to buy replacements yourself. On the other hand, you won’t be able to run a furniture store without having furniture to sell.

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Your assets (and real estate) will be fully protected when you have commercial property insurance. While this includes theft protection, it also keeps you safe from the financial aftermath of fires, water damage, and the like.

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^{Business owner’s policy}

General liability insurance is a must-have for any retail business, and the same is true for commercial property insurance. While you can buy these policies individually, that might not have to be the case. Alternatively, some furniture stores can purchase these forms of insurance as part of a business owner’s policy (BOP).

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To benefit from the lower prices associated with BOPs, you’ll have to qualify for this form of insurance ahead of time. If your store has less than 100 employees, has a small building, and makes less than $1 million per year, there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to invest in a BOP.

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^{Workers’ compensation insurance}

Working at a furniture store might not sound like a perilous job, but people employed at these businesses face a surprising number of hazards every day. Your workers could get hurt while carrying furniture or simply slip and fall—and either of these situations could have significant consequences for your business.

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With workers’ compensation insurance, you’ll benefit from financial assistance when dealing with the effects of injuries to your employees. This form of insurance can make it easier to handle:

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• Early medical costs, such as visits to the ER and ambulance rides
• Ongoing medical expenses (for example, physical rehab and medicines)
• A partial loss of wages while an employee cannot work

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^{Cyber insurance}

If you’re responsible for running a furniture store, cybercrime might be the last thing on your mind. But that doesn’t mean cyberattacks aren’t a cause for concern—if your store gets hit by one of these attacks, you might find yourself facing lost data, cyber extortion, and more problems.

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The good news is that there’s an easy way to deal with these risks head-on—that is, investing in cyber liability insurance. When you have one of these policies, you’ll get assistance with the costs of notifying customers of a data breach, dealing with business interruptions, making cyber extortion payments, and investigating data breaches.

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^{Commercial auto insurance}

If your employees make a point of staying safe while driving, you might not be worried about auto insurance—but not everyone on the road is a trustworthy motorist. Even if your workers aren’t at fault in an accident, you could be forced to deal with a totaled company vehicle or an injured driver.

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Property damage and lawsuits resulting from a car crash can be expensive for any company, and that’s definitely true for small furniture stores. Commercial auto insurance can help to cover these costs, along with expenses related to repairing or replacing a stolen or vandalized company vehicle.

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^{Umbrella liability insurance}

Even if you have all of the other policies listed in this article, there’s one more thing you’ll need to worry about—your store’s coverage limits. After all, a single lawsuit could result in expenses your insurance can’t cover alone.

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Umbrella liability insurance can fix this problem by “boosting” your other policies. With this insurance, you can supplement the protection offered by your general liability insurance, commercial auto insurance, and other insurance policies.

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^{How much does it cost?}

Insurance expenses for furniture stores can vary significantly based on a few different factors, including the size of your business and how much inventory you have in stock. That said, here are rough cost estimates for some of the policies these businesses need:

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• General liability insurance: Less than $45/month
• Business owner’s policy: $65/month
• Workers’ compensation insurance: Less than $90/month
• Cyber insurance: $140/month
• Commercial auto insurance: $142/month
• Umbrella liability insurance: Less than $65/month

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^Conclusion

No matter how successful your furniture store is, you could find yourself in deep trouble before you know it unless you take steps to protect your business from potential threats. Small and large furniture stores can be severely impacted by risks such as customer and worker injuries, property damage, and cybercrime.

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Of course, there’s no need to panic about these issues—not if you buy the right insurance policies, that is. When you purchase general liability insurance, commercial auto insurance, cyber insurance, and other types of insurance coverage, you’ll take an essential step toward protecting your business from harm. That way, you’ll be able to spend less time worrying and more time running your store.

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Get in touch with a Fullsteam insurance advisor today and learn more about coverage, costs, and next steps.