With another 20 stores scheduled to join its current roster of 200 locations this year, and a continued push to cover more of the country, one has to ask: Is an IPO on the horizon for Bob’s Discount Furniture?

The furniture chain has been owned by the giant private equity firm Bain Capital since 2013, and while the company isn’t openly talking about going public, cashing out its investors through a public stock offering would seem like the next logical step.

There’s one big obstacle: The home furnishings sector continues to be very weak, and the latest turmoil with tariffs is only adding to that misery. A projected rebound in the housing market remains somewhere in the distance, and even the low-price positioning Bob’s has on the retail landscape is probably not enough for it to put up the kinds of numbers that would get potential new investors interested. In short, it’s not a great time to take a furniture retailer public.

Still, Bob’s keeps pushing ahead. The 20 stores slated to open this year mark the fourth consecutive year the brand has grown its physical footprint. It opened 20 last year, seven in 2023 and another 20 outposts in 2022. This year’s expansion includes six locations in North Carolina (its first in that state), as well as the inaugural Bob’s in Vermont. Also on tap for this year are additional stores scheduled for Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania.

This continued expansion might run counter to furniture retail trends, but in a recent interview with Modern Retail, chief operating officer Ramesh Murthy said there were new markets that made sense. “Even when housing may be tough, there are lots of places in this country where there’s a net addition of customers,” he said. “We look for vibrant retail corridors with a lot of activity and convenient access for our future customers.”

Still, Murthy emphasized that Bob’s is not expanding haphazardly, even as recent closings of similar footprint locations previously occupied by Big Lots and others might be tempting. “We’re very disciplined,” he said. “We don’t just go and get a box to get a box. And we turn down as many, if not more, as we take in the process.”

The company was founded in 1991 by Bob Kaufman, who wanted to create a furniture retailer that avoided gimmicks and focused on low prices. He sold the company to Bain Capital Private Equity in 2013—terms were never disclosed—and eventually retired, replaced in the company’s advertising by a chipper avatar.

Bob’s grew from its 47-store base in the Northeast at the time of the deal to its current size, and while it remains private and doesn’t disclose any financial information, Furniture Today estimated the brand’s annual sales in 2022 at $2.125 billion, which would make it the ninth-largest furniture seller in the country.

Unlike other big national chains like RH, Ethan Allen or Arhaus, Bob’s has always been focused on the more promotional end of the business, and its only direct competitors are Ashley Home and Rooms To Go. Both are also private and don’t disclose financials, but each is generally considered to be larger than Bob’s.

Still, unlike those two giants, which are still owned by their founding families—the Waneks for Ashley and the Seamans for Rooms To Go—Bob’s has a private equity ownership structure, which usually means a go-public strategy at some point. With Bain having owned the brand for 12 years—an unusually long time for private equity—one has to think the firm is getting a bit antsy for a return on its investment. Even the hint of a rebound for the overall housing market and the corresponding home furnishings sector would seem to be a signal that the moment could be nearing, but for now, with the landscape muddied by tariff threats, that still seems to be off in the future.

In the meantime, Bob’s continues to add stores, states and the corresponding revenues. Maybe it’s why the puppet Bob on those ubiquitous TV commercials always seems to be smiling.

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Warren Shoulberg is the former editor in chief for several leading B2B publications. He has been a guest lecturer at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business; received honors from the International Furnishings and Design Association and the Fashion Institute of Technology; and been cited by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and other media as a leading industry expert. His Retail Watch columns offer deep industry insights on major markets and product categories.