Local furniture retailing giant C.S. Wo & Sons is going to explore the Mainland for expansion potential with a gallery slated to open next month in California.

The nearly 100-year-old company plans to open a C.S. Wo & Sons gallery in mid-June at a new multitenant home furnishings complex in Costa Mesa called South Coast Home Furnishings Centre.

The store will be C.S. Wo's first outside Hawai'i.

"This is a test case of sorts," said Bub Wo, company president. "We're optimistic that it will be well received. We kind of want to see how it goes."

The store will feature a sampling of items found in the retailer's flagship C.S. Wo Gallery on Beretania Street, including Buddhas from Thailand and wood carvings in addition to furniture, Wo said.

"It's kind of mixing an eclectic look (that) isn't something you would typically see on the Mainland," he said.

The store will be roughly 20,000 square feet, or about half the size of the Beretania store. "We're not going with a big store," Wo said. "We want to test the waters."

C.S. Wo will be one of about 30 decor retailers or home furnishing lines at the 300,000-square-foot Costa Mesa complex, which also has a food court with tenants including TacoTime and Samurai Sam's.

Established in 1909, C.S. Wo was started by Ching Sing Wo as a general store on North King Street. The business moved into furniture retailing by 1942.

The company expanded greatly over the past two decades with a variety of brands to become the state's dominant furniture retailer with estimated sales of more than $80 million last year.

Besides C.S. Wo Gallery, the company operates HomeWorld, Room Stores Hawaii, DeZign Home, SlumberWorld, Sleepland USA and La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries spread over eight locations, including Maui and the Big Island.

Former C.S. Wo brands have included Z-Interiors, Furnitureland, BJ Furniture, Scandinavian Gallery, Basic Concepts and Marsh Furniture Mart.

Wo said there are still good opportunities to expand in Hawai'i, but that the company wanted to explore doing business on the Mainland. He said the company will wait to evaluate the California operation before considering potential further expansion.

Competition has been tough in Hawai'i in the past several years as new stores opened in response to rising home sales that started declining last year.

In November, investors abruptly closed the 50,000-square-foot Ashley Furniture HomeStore in Waikele after four years in business. In March, the owner of INspiration Furniture opened the 80,000-square-foot Honolulu Design Center on Kapi'olani Boulevard.

The last new developments by C.S. Wo were a few years ago, converting the Bougainville Furnitureland into Room Stores and opening what is now DeZign Home on Ward Avenue.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.