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To the owners of Seaman Furniture Co., it must be more important to know Long Island than the furniture business.
Last week the troubled Uniondale, L.I.-based retailer named Matthew Serra -- a menswear merchant with no experience selling furniture -- president and chief executive. Mr. Serra, most recently president and chief executive of the Hartford, Conn.-based G. Fox & Co. department store chain, replaces the 57-year-old company founder Morton Seaman as chief executive. Mr. Seaman took his company private in a $360 million buyout over two years ago.
The 45-year-old Mr. Serra has done tours of duty at some of New York's best known stores, including Bloomingdale's, Saks Fifth Avenue and Gimbels. He was president of Gimbels East when the Gimbels chain closed in 1986. He's well respected and knows the area's market, but he's never run a furniture store, much less the nation's second biggest furniture retailer.
"Matt is an astute merchant, but I would rather go with someone who knows the industry," says Robert Nesbitt, managing partner...