1. INDUSTRY NEWS RETAILING
Commercial furniture business thrives
after breaking off from Target
Sep 8, 2016, 2:18pm CDT
Nick Halter Staff Reporter
Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal
Carlene Wilson is the new executive vice president of national sales and marketing for Atmosphere Commercial
Interiors
It’s been more than a year since Target Corp. sold off its commercial furniture business and, armed
with aggressive new owners, Atmosphere Commercial Interiors has posted a 20 percent jump in
revenue in its first year as a standalone company.

2. Atmosphere CEO Mike Litwin was instrumental in brokering the sale to the owners of Minneapolis-
based Omni Workspace Co., which had been the company’s partner for 30 years as an installer of
commercial furniture.
Litwin, with the new ownership group, has aggressive plans to keep the growth going.
The company is relocating two of its seven showrooms. The showroom in Tempe, Ariz., will move to a
high-traffic storefront in downtown Phoenix in November. The one in Tucson will also relocate this
winter (the others are in Wisconsin and Northern Illinois).
Atmosphere extended its lease by 10 years at the Young-Quinlan Building, which is right across the
street from Target’s headquarters on Nicollet Mall.
About that Target relationship: It’s good. Litwin said Target tapped Atmosphere for a “massive”
amount of work, including a buildout at the company's Brooklyn Park campus to make room for
employees relocating from the now-vacant 394 campus, and renovations at Target's downtown
headquarters buildings.
This week, Atmosphere announced it snagged an executive whom Litwin calls a “once every five to
10 year opportunity” to lead sales and marketing.
That executive is Carlene Wilson, who started Tuesday as executive vice president of national sales
and marketing. She was previously co-owner and vice president of sales and marketing for bkm
Total Office of Texas, which is also a commercial dealer of Steelcase-branded furniture.
Wilson said she was drawn to the company because of the investors, Jack Helms, Steve Sefton and
Tim Anderson, as well as Litwin and the leadership team.
“I had an opportunity to meet with them and talk to them about their vision — their compelling
vision for growth and where they wanted to be several years from now, and that really was enticing
to me,” she said. “It was very exciting.”
Growth has come in a variety of sectors for Atmosphere, Litwin said, with the most notable being
education and health care.
One big loyal client has been the Minnesota Timberwolves. Atmosphere sold furniture for the team’s
Mayo Clinic Square headquarters and is now working on new suites inside Target Center that will
finished by Nov. 1.
Atmosphere is a dealer of tables, chairs, desks, technology and other office furniture.
Nick Halter covers retail and sports business.