Bob's Discount Furniture

After the future company's co-founder, Bob Kaufman, was injured in a 1976 motorcycle accident, he discovered the benefits of a waterbed for recuperation. This led him to become involved in waterbed sales and, during the 1980s, he rented space in 24 New England stores to sell them. When waterbed sales dwindled by 1990, Kaufman partnered with Gene Rosenberg who owned Wholesale Furniture, one of the stores where Kaufman had rented space.

Together Kaufman and Rosenberg co-founded Bob's Discount Furniture with Rosenberg owning two-thirds of the company and Kaufman one-third. Rosenberg acquired a building in Newington, Connecticut, previously owned by a furniture company which had gone bankrupt, and re-opened it in 1991 as the first Bob's Discount Furniture store.

Through the 1990s, the company added additional locations, often acquiring buildings that had been vacated by tenants bankrupted during the early 1990s US recession. By 1997, it had a dozen stores in Connecticut and two in western Massachusetts. Its ability to grow during its early years in spite of unfavorable economic conditions has been partially attributed to the extensive use of commercials.

In early 2005, the investment firm Saunders Karp & Megrue acquired 70 percent ownership of Bob's Discount Furniture. Subsequently, Saunders Karp & Megrue was acquired by Apax Partners Worldwide in March 2005. In November 2006, Ted English, former president and CEO of TJX Companies, became the CEO of Bob's Discount Furniture, replacing Stan Adelstein, who became chairman. Adelstein retired in April 2013, and English took over as chairman. In late 2006, the company expanded into Rhode Island, New Jersey, and New York followed by an expansion further south into Maryland and Virginia.

In Q1 of 2014, Bob's Discount Furniture was acquired by Bain Capital, though its current management team continued to own a significant stake in the company. In 2016, Michael Skirvin was promoted from president and COO to president and CEO, replacing English who remained with the company as executive chairman. In June 2020, Skirvin retired and English became interim CEO. In October 2020 the position was permanently filled by William Barton, formerly of California Closets.

The company's founder, Robert "Bob" Kaufman leases store locations to the company. Mr. Kaufman resigned from the Board of Directors on December 1, 2025.

Initial public offering

On January 9, 2026, the company filed an S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering (IPO) of common stock.

The company raised $330 million in proceeds through the sale of 19,450,000 shares at $17 each through underwriters led by J.P. Morgan Securities and Morgan Stanley. Law firms Ropes & Gray and Latham & Watkins represented Bob's and the underwriters, respectively. On February 5, 2026, the shares commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "BOBS".

As of January 2026, Bob's Discount Furniture has 211 locations in 25 US states. The majority of these are in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and West Coast regions.

After its original markets in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, its Midwest expansion came in the wake of H.H. Gregg's sudden liquidation, allowing Bob's to purchase the leases for the bankrupt retailer's former locations. The company expanded to the West Coast in February 2018, picking up leases of former Sport Chalet and Sports Authority stores that closed in 2016. Around July 2020, Bob's expanded to the Phoenix metropolitan area in Arizona.

Bob's Discount Furniture locations include an in-store cafe with complimentary refreshments. Some stores also have a back room with products that are considered imperfect; this area is called "The Outlet".