Cresc reorganizes two rug divisions

Cresc Corp., a 28-year-old home accents and rug company, recently became the parent company of Home Comfort, its former sister affiliate.

Cresc also spun off its Homefires area and accent rug brand into its second division, working alongside Home Comfort.

Under the restructuring, Renee Ringstad was promoted to executive vice president of merchandising for Cresc from her former post as president of Homefires. "This move is aimed at bringing the entire workforce of the two divisions into a cohesive team that will handle all aspects of daily operations," Ringstad said.

Bud Edie, president of Home Comfort, was promoted to executive vice president of sales for Cresc. He said the reorganization is aimed at eliminating overlaps, duplications of efforts and redundancy of products so the divisions do not directly compete.

"I think we have a better delineation, we will keep the product well-defined and each division will be more targeted," Edie said.

Although warehouse, warehouse staff and back office staff now serve both companies, systems are being set up to separate functions as future growth demands. "We have two different sales groups with a very different target customer and rug products aimed for different rooms of the house," Edie said. "That was always our goal when we started Home Comforts. It was meant to hit a more competitive price point and service with washable and outdoor use."

In Atlanta, Home Comfort again is being shown in the 225 Unlimited showroom, AmericasMart 2 1718, an area that is primarily gift but includes some home accents.

Homefires moved to the Alexander Terry showroom, AmericasMart 1 10-E-10, for the January market and is being shown there in an area that is largely home accents. Both divisions also are in the Homefires Rug Market showroom at AmericasMart 1 6E6.