LOS ANGELES — Despite competition from the likes of F&S Fabrics and Diamond Foam in Los Angeles, Mood Designer Fabrics will expand its 12,000 square-foot store to 20,000-square-feet in December to make room for the home furnishings fabric department.

Eric Sauma, vice president of Mood Designer Fabrics, said he’s encouraged by the 30-percent sales growth the company experienced in the home department last year. Despite the struggling economy, he reported sales of more than two million yards over the last fiscal year.

The company is headed by the Sauma family: Eric, 30, vice president; Philip, 34, president, and Jack, the semi-retired founder who oversees his two sons. They estimate that home already accounts for nearly half of Mood's overall revenue. Exact revenue figures were kept private.

The expansion in what some retailers say is a flat fabric market in California is part of an effort to address what company executives believe to be a lack of home fabric suppliers on the West Coast compared to the New York market.

Read the entire article in the fall 2012 issue of Fabrics & Furnishings International.