More than 40 years ago, when Eliot Tatelman was delivering furniture in the lone truck for his father’s single store in Waltham, Massachusetts, he never expected the venture would lead to him sitting next to David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez on a Boston Red Sox championship float in 2007, looking out and seeing signs reading “thanks for the free furniture.”
But he knew he didn’t want to be traditional.
Now the furniture company, which boasts eight stores throughout New England, is all in on both the UConn men’s and women’s basketball teams.
Jordan’s Furniture, which has stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, says it will refund about $50 million to its customers if both UConn teams reach their respective national championship games. That’s thanks to a promotion pledging it would refund all furniture purchases between Jan. 20 and March 1 if both teams make it that far. Now both are in the Final Four and on the doorstep of what could become a massive payday for its customers.
“We’re hoping that it’ll happen,” Tatelman told The Athletic by phone on Friday. “I pay insurance. I’m gambling that I’m going to increase my business, help my branding, and do all of that, but because of this promotion, I’m willing to take a certain small percentage to pay for insurance.”
UConn’s women’s team made quick work of Notre Dame in the Elite Eight, winning 70-52, sending the Huskies to Phoenix for the 25th Final Four of Geno Auriemma’s coaching career. Meanwhile, the men’s team required a last-second, game-winning 3 from freshman guard Braylon Mullins to knock off No. 1-seeded Duke 73-72 and steal a spot in the men’s Final Four in Indianapolis. It’s head coach Dan Hurley’s third Final Four in four years, with his Huskies winning the championship in 2023 and 2024.
The UConn women face No. 1 seed South Carolina on Friday (7 p.m. ET), while the men face No. 3 Illinois on Saturday (6:09 p.m. ET).
Tatelman, the company’s former president, who recently passed it down to his sons, emphasized that he isn’t worried about the potential $50 million price tag that would come with wins by both UConn teams. In addition to having insurance, he hopes to make up for any lost money with added publicity. It’s happened before.
“We are totally covered,” he said. “If it happens, it’s the best thing that we’re going to give all of our customers free furniture. It doesn’t get any better.”
Jordan’s Furniture, which was founded by Tatelman’s grandfather and eventually sold to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, with Tatelman maintaining operational control, has a history of attaching large promotions to the success of area sports teams.
In 2007, Tatelman promised refunds if the Boston Red Sox won the World Series — a promotion approved by Buffett himself. After third baseman Mike Lowell won Series MVP and led Boston to a title-winning series sweep over the Colorado Rockies, Jordan’s shelled out an estimated $35 million in free items. Like this UConn promotion, that deal was similarly insured.
“They won, and $35 million went back to our customers, and every one of those customers told the world that they got free furniture,” Tatelman said.
“If you go into Boston and you talk to people, everybody knows somebody who got free furniture because the Red Sox won the World Series, because they told the world. And you talk about branding? It doesn’t get any better than that.”
And they’re not alone in the furniture industry. In 2022, Texas-based Gallery Furniture, owned by Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, offered to double a payout for any customer who spent at least $3,000 if the Houston Astros won the World Series. Houston beat the Philadelphia Phillies in six games, and McIngvale paid the cost of the promotion from the $75 million in winnings he earned after placing a $10 million bet on the Astros to win. He, along with his customers, went all in on Houston.
The gamble of free furniture isn’t exclusive to Jordan’s, but there is one exclusive thing on which Tatelman built his empire: The experience in his stores.
Walk into his New Haven store, and you can buy furniture … or you can go on a 250-foot indoor rope adventure course, including zip lines, eat at one of the restaurants inside, or be treated to a “$2 million water show.” Go into Boston, a city with the moniker “Beantown,” and you’ll find a furniture store built with jellybeans. The famous green monster is rebuilt inside and out of green jelly beans, and next to it is a huge jelly-bean ice cream sundae atop a small eatery.
The Jordan’s Furniture store in Boston features a “Green Monster.” (@Shawninboston on IG)
Go to the newest store in West Hartford, Connecticut, during the men’s and women’s final four, and you’ll find a Sally’s Apizza where you can purchase food and then sit in front of an 80-by-35-foot LED wall where the games will be shown.
“What does that have to do with furniture? Not a lot. Nothing,” Tatelman admits. “It just brings people, it brings families, it brings excitement. And we just happen to sell furniture. When they’re walking through the store, many times, they find things that they like, and they also remember it. And a year, two years later, when they really need furniture, they remember.”
The Jordan’s Furniture in New Haven, Conn., features an adventure park. (@Shawninboston on IG)
Tatelman’s company has become known for its eclectic stores and its quirky multi-million dollar promotions, though none have hit since the Red Sox in 2007. But now UConn is right there.
Jordan’s Furniture recently opened stores in Connecticut and wanted to activate the region. It approached the university in Storrs and signed a deal that included this promotion, along with making Jordan’s the official furniture store of Huskies athletics and running multiple commercials with UConn athletes.
The value of the publicity and visibility far outweighs the cost, according to Tatelman. And it’s worked.
“(The response) was terrific,” He said. “Traffic increase. Everybody couldn’t believe what they were hearing, and it did exactly what we wanted it to do. It brought in a lot of people. It’s causing a lot of excitement. Every radio, TV station is calling me. I mean, ESPN wants me to be on one of the shows. This is crazy.”
In 2007, the promotion put Jordan’s on the map. It elevated Tatelman’s name, and now the UConn promotion is similarly shining a light on the once-small company with a single store in Waltham. Posts about the promotion have amassed more than a million views, and when Mullins’ game-winning shot secured the Huskies’ spot in the Final Four, the vision crystallized further, all while elevating the store.
Starting Friday, many in Connecticut will sit on their purchased furniture, or in Jordan’s at a pizza restaurant, with eyes trained on the Huskies, hoping UConn’s success can pay for the couches from which they will watch them.