For the Silberg and Carton families, it?s their turn to get a deal.
Running C-Mart, the family business and retailer of distressed goods for the last 30-plus years, the Silbergs and Cartons decided this week it was time to sell their controlling interest of the company to The Asset Store, a Baltimore-based online liquidator.
Featuring a 120,000-square-foot location in Landover and a 100,000-square-foot store in Joppatowne, the well-known local business is slated to maintain its name, employees and brand identity while increasing its online presence.
“It?s a partnership that will help us grow the business,” said former C-Mart operating owner Keith Silberg, whose family will retain 30 percent ownership. “The capital and infrastructure will help take C-Mart to a more national audience. It?s always been our plan to take this business as far as we can take it.”
Over time, a larger variety of goods at more discounted prices will be available as a resultof the partnership, Silberg told The Examiner.
C-Mart flourished in Maryland?s $85 billion retail industry, said Tom Saquella, president of the Maryland Retailers Association.
The Asset Store, founded in 2004, named Brad Bondroff as C-Mart?s new president, Daniel Shuman as chief executive officer and John Ferber as chairman of the board. The group?s ideas to enhance sales include expansion into other cities and launching a new Web site, www.cmart.com.
The entire store will slowly become computerized, Silberg said, adding that everything will be available for purchase online through the creation of a highly organized inventory and bar-coding system.
“There are opportunities out there,” Silberg said. The company wants to “take it as far as we can take it without compromising who we are.”
“We were looking for a company that we could acquire that was missing some of the pieces that we could bring to the table,” Shuman said. “The fit was just perfect because this was a very storied, family-run business that prided itself on not having a corporate identity, and there was plenty of room to improve in the areas where we had real value.”
Examiner staff researchers Andrew Parchman and John Davisson contributed to this story.
