CEO Steers I.O. Metro Stores to Become Erdos at Home

The I.O. Metro at 3335 Market St. in Rogers is no more; however, the space is still a place to grab a leather sofa or a buffet to finish off your dining room.

In the past few weeks, the home furnishings retailer — which maintains headquarters in Lowell and Dallas — has quietly been morphing some of its stores into Erdos at Home, a rebrand fueled by the decision last March to name John Erdos as the new CEO and creative director of the company.

Erdos, who replaced Lou Spagna as CEO of I.O. Metro, has a two-decade long career in furniture design in Singapore. He relocated back to the states last year. (It was back in 2011 that I.O. Metro was acquired by an investor group that includes Banyan Investment Partners and Diamond State Ventures.)

Plans are underway to revamp a total of 12 I.O. Metro storefronts in the same fashion as the Rogers location, including the store on Joyce Boulevard in Fayetteville. The stores will continue to be open to the public as the facelift is completed.

“When I took over I.O. Metro, I didn’t think the design aesthetic or quality was, in all honesty, up to my standards,” Erdos told Whispers. “So, the only logical thing I decided was to start from scratch. We have great locations and fantastic people and our main goal is to offer our clients well designed products at satisfying prices.”

On the floor now are pieces from Erdos’ most-recent spring collection, which was inspired by four of the designer’s favorite locales: Tribeca, Westport, Palm Springs and the Hamptons.