How a waterbed enthusiast built a furniture empire on 'wacky' ads
In short: Before becoming a furniture giant, Bob's Discount Furniture began as a waterbed venture sparked by a motorcycle accident. By capitalizing on retail vacancies during a national recession and employing a surreal marketing strategy, the company transformed from a small New England operation into a major American retail powerhouse.
The company's origins trace back to a 1976 motorcycle accident involving co-founder Bob Kaufman. While recovering, Kaufman discovered the benefits of waterbeds, leading him to rent space in 24 New England stores during the 1980s to sell them. When the waterbed craze faded by 1990, Kaufman partnered with Gene Rosenberg, the owner of one of those stores, to pivot into the furniture market.
In 1991, the duo opened the first Bob's Discount Furniture store in Newington, Connecticut, in a building vacated by a bankrupt furniture company. The business model thrived on opportunistic expansion; throughout the 1990s, the company grew by acquiring buildings left behind by other retailers bankrupted during the early 1990s US recession. This expansion strategy eventually took them from the Northeast to the Midwest—following the liquidation of H.H. Gregg—and finally to the West Coast in 2018 by picking up leases from closed Sport Chalet and Sports Authority locations.
Central to this growth was a high-volume,
wacky and goofy marketing campaign. Approximately 500 weekly advertisements were aired by the firm across Connecticut during 1997. These ads, which often featured Kaufman himself or a stop-motion-animated character named "Little Bob," were designed to project "untouchable value." This aggressive advertising, combined with corporate sponsorships of teams like the New England Patriots and New York Giants, helped the company reach a ranking of 7th in sales among US furniture stores as of 2026.
Today, the company is a major corporate entity. After various ownership shifts involving investment firms like Saunders Karp & Megrue and Bain Capital, the company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in February 2026 under the ticker "BOBS." Despite its corporate scale, it maintains a distinct brand identity through in-store cafes, "The Outlet" for imperfect products, and a philanthropic arm that donates over $2.75 million annually to causes like March of Dimes and Special Olympics.
In 1976, a motorcycle crash left Bob Kaufman wounded, leading to his interest in waterbeds for healing.
canvas-timeline-["date: 1976, label: Bob Kaufman is injured in a motorcycle accident", "date: 1980s, label: Kaufman rents space in 24 New England stores to sell waterbeds", "date: 1991, label: First Bob's Discount Furniture store opens in Newington, Connecticut", "date: 1997, label: Company broadcasts roughly 500 commercials a week in Connecticut", "date: 2016, label: Company begins picking up leases of closed Sport Chalet and Sports Authority stores", "date: February 5, 2026, label: Shares commence trading on the New York Stock Exchange"]
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Bob's Discount Furniture
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