VAUGHAN, Ontario — The Furniture Investment Group, led by well-known independent retailer Dennis Novosel, has opened its third Ashley Furniture HomeStore just north of Highway 7 in this Toronto suburb.

Housed in a former Mobilia store, at 23,000 square feet of selling space, the new outlet is the smallest of F.I.G.'s three stores. The largest, with 43,000 square feet, is located in Mississauga while the group's first store in Stoney Creek, Ontario, has 37,000 square feet.

With the opening, there are now a total of 25 Ashley Furniture HomeStores in operation in Canada. According to the Ashley website, there are eight stores in Alberta, four each in Ontario and Quebec, three each in British Columbia and Manitoba, two in Saskatchewan and one in Nova Scotia.

The largest Ashley licensee in Canada is the Winnipeg-based Dufresne Group, which operates 12 outlets throughout Western Canada.

Novosel, who is best known as founder and president of Stoney Creek Furniture, said the new location offered advantageous rent in addition to a strong furniture retail location.

The Vaughan store is located in Seven/400 Power Centre, which is also home to a number of other furniture and home furnishings retailers including a Thomasville Gallery. Also in the neighborhood are a Sears Home store and one of the three Brick Superstores that are scattered across the Greater Toronto Area.

"The Ashley stores have been incredibly profitable for us," Novosel said, adding that "we've been able to create these stores without adding more inventory to our operation."

All three stores will be supported from a single distribution center in Stoney Creek.

While Novosel sees great potential for the concept throughout Ontario, his group's current thinking is to look for additional locations on the western side of the GTA that can also be supported from their existing distribution center. "We're looking for really good real estate opportunities," he said.

He also notes his group's Ashley stores are somewhat different from the other 425 outlets in the chain. Their stores focus on the Arcadia, Wis.-based manufacturer and distributor's higher end products, particularly the Millennium collection. In addition to the U.S., there are Ashley stores in Mexico, Puerto Rico and Japan.

"We've really stuck to their high end," Novosel said, adding he believes the products' value/price combination is more attractive to most Canadian consumers.

Novosel also points out that the Furniture Investment Group - which runs the three Ashley stores - is a separate business from Stoney Creek Furniture. Novosel serves as F.I.G.'s chairman while partners Bob Binkley and Mark MacDiarmid serve respectively as director of operations and director of sales.