Furniture Classics gains Morgan Hill line

By Thomas Russell -- Home Accents Today, 9/1/2006

Accent furniture specialist Furniture Classics Ltd. will be the new U.S. and Canada distributor for the Morgan Hill furniture line.

The company will buy the line from a factory in Mandawa, India. Until earlier this year, the high-end line was distributed by case goods and occasional specialist Sarreid.

Morgan Hill has nearly 800 SKUs of European reproduction style bedroom, dining room and occasional furniture, plus a mix of lamps and tabletop accessories. About 70% of the mix is in wood product, said Alex Boyer, director of sales for Furniture Classics.

Boyer said Furniture Classics will initially market and distribute 50 Morgan Hill best sellers, showing it in the company's High Point showroom this fall. The product mix is expected to grow over time.

The line will allow Furniture Classics to expand beyond its current price point range of medium to upper-medium.

"This will help us establish a new higher-end price point for our line and exposure and an entrée into better-end key accounts and major players in the marketplace," Boyer said.

He predicted Morgan Hill eventually could represent as much as 25% of the company's business, but declined to reveal Furniture Classics' current sales.

To help manage growth, the company is establishing a dedicated sales force and has hired former Sherrill Furniture and Natuzzi Americas sales and marketing executive Gary Greenbaum as sales manager.

Sarreid continued to buy the line from the Mandawa factory until this past March. While he still owns 15% of the factory operations, Sarratt said, Sarreid stopped distributing the line because the factory couldn't fill orders in a timely manner.

Furniture Classics' Boyer acknowledged that the plant has had problems with delivery times. Production cycles were as long as 120 days, which Furniture Classics plans to reduce to as little as 90 days for container-direct business. Transit times will likely require an additional 40 to 50 days.

"We are approaching dealers with the story of improved service," Boyer said. "We have been working with the factory, and have a pledge from the factory to shorten up lead times."

Best sellers stocked in the company's Norfolk warehouse can be shipped through a less-than-container-load program in as little as four weeks from order, he said.