New York City felt a lot—well, a little bit—like High Point, N.C., this week when furniture giants Lexington Home Brands and LaZBoy braved Manhattan’s infamous holiday traffic to highlight their ongoing efforts to expand beyond their traditional roots.
Lexington unveiled its brand-spanking new 10,000-square-foot showroom in New York’s Design Center; LaZBoy invited consumer and trade media to a studio in the Meatpacking District—with help from reality star/designer Jillian Harris—to show that it’s much more than a maker of recliners for television-watching dads.
Lexington’s CEO Phil Haney said the time was perfect for his company to open its second showroom for the designer trade. Lexington opened its first designer showroom in Denver a couple of years ago.
“Our designer business is up 50 percent this year,” Haney said, between greeting showroom visitors. “We find that in this economy, designers are looking for ways to get great looks at more moderate prices.”
At the LaZBoy event, Harris—known for The Bachelor, The Bachelorette and more recently, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition—showed visitors room vignettes featuring LaZBoy upholstered products with nary a recliner in sight—seemingly. “That’s a recliner,” Harris said, pointing to a small chair. “Hard to believe, right?” - Duke Ratliff