La-Z-Boy
Encyclopedia
La-Z-Boy Incorporated is a furniture
manufacturer based in Monroe
, Michigan
, USA which makes home furniture, including upholstered recliners, sofas, stationary chair
s, and sleeper sofas. The company employs more than 11,000 people.
La-Z-Boy furniture is sold in thousands of retail
residential outlets in the United States and Canada, and is manufactured and distributed under license in other countries including the United Kingdom
, Germany
, Italy
, Japan
, Mexico
, New Zealand
, Turkey
and South Africa
.http://www.la-z-boy.com/media/history.swf La-Z-Boy holds US and international patent
s on more than 200 different styles and mechanisms.
La-Z-Boy Incorporated is divided into three reportable operating segments: the Upholstery
Group, the Casegoods Group and the Retail Group. The Upholstery Group primarily manufactures and sells upholstered furniture to furniture retailers and proprietary stores. This includes recliners and motion furniture, sofas, loveseats, chairs, ottomans
and sleeper sofas. The Casegoods Group primarily sells manufactured or imported wood
furniture to furniture retailers, including table
s, chairs, entertainment center
s, headboard
s, dressers, accent pieces and some coordinated upholstered furniture. The Retail Group consists of 70 company-owned stores in the US. The Retail Group sells mainly upholstered furniture to end consumers through the retail network.
La-Z-Boy includes various companies and brands including La-Z-Boy Residential, La-Z-Boy Kids, La-Z-Boy Hospitality, Lea Furniture, American Drew, Kincaid Furniture, Bauhaus USA Furniture, Hammary Furniture and England Furniture Incorporated
.
s to mock-up and refine their idea, they invented a wood-slat porch chair with a reclining mechanism. Knabusch and Shoemaker then upholstered their innovation and marketed it as a year-round chair. The chair was a success; they held a contest
to name it—La-Z-Boy was the winner.
In 1969, after years primarily as a manufacturer of recliners, La-Z-Boy started designing other products including reclining sofas, sleep sofas and modular groups. In 1983 La-Z-Boy introduced its first line of stationary sofas and occasional chairs, later offering a full line of home furnishings.
In 2009 a man in Proctor
, Minnesota
was arrested
for driving a motorised recliner while under the influence of alcohol. The police later put the chair up for auction on eBay
as a La-Z-Boy since this was how it had been described in the press, but it was pointed out that the chair was not a La-Z-Boy.
, New Zealand
, founded by Jack Morgan, commenced manufacture of the La-Z-Boy recliner for Australia and New Zealand. In September 2007 his son Graham Morgan announced that the company was to import the furniture from China and Thailand with the loss of around 200 Auckland manufacturing jobs.
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
manufacturer based in Monroe
Monroe, Michigan
Monroe is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 20,733 at the 2010 census. It is the largest city and county seat of Monroe County. The city is bordered on the south by Monroe Charter Township, but both are politically independent. The city is located approximately 14 miles ...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, USA which makes home furniture, including upholstered recliners, sofas, stationary chair
Chair
A chair is a stable, raised surface used to sit on, commonly for use by one person. Chairs are most often supported by four legs and have a back; however, a chair can have three legs or could have a different shape depending on the criteria of the chair specifications. A chair without a back or...
s, and sleeper sofas. The company employs more than 11,000 people.
La-Z-Boy furniture is sold in thousands of retail
Retail
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
residential outlets in the United States and Canada, and is manufactured and distributed under license in other countries including the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.http://www.la-z-boy.com/media/history.swf La-Z-Boy holds US and international patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s on more than 200 different styles and mechanisms.
La-Z-Boy Incorporated is divided into three reportable operating segments: the Upholstery
Upholstery
Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing, and fabric or leather covers. The word upholstery comes from the Middle English word upholder, which referred to a tradesman who held up his goods. The term is equally applicable to domestic,...
Group, the Casegoods Group and the Retail Group. The Upholstery Group primarily manufactures and sells upholstered furniture to furniture retailers and proprietary stores. This includes recliners and motion furniture, sofas, loveseats, chairs, ottomans
Ottoman (furniture)
An ottoman is a piece of furniture consisting of a padded, upholstered seat or bench having neither back nor arms, often used as a stool or footstool, or in some cases as an improvised coffee table. Ottomans are often sold as coordinating furniture with armchairs or gliders.An ottoman can also be...
and sleeper sofas. The Casegoods Group primarily sells manufactured or imported wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
furniture to furniture retailers, including table
Table (furniture)
A table is a form of furniture with a flat and satisfactory horizontal upper surface used to support objects of interest, for storage, show, and/or manipulation...
s, chairs, entertainment center
Entertainment center
A home entertainment center is a piece of furniture seen in many homes in North America, which houses major electronic items, such as a television set, a VCR and/or DVD player, stereo components , and cable or satellite television receivers...
s, headboard
Headboard (furniture)
The headboard is a piece of furniture that attaches to the head of a bed. In previous times and in older less well insulated buildings they serve to isolate sleepers from drafts and cold walls...
s, dressers, accent pieces and some coordinated upholstered furniture. The Retail Group consists of 70 company-owned stores in the US. The Retail Group sells mainly upholstered furniture to end consumers through the retail network.
La-Z-Boy includes various companies and brands including La-Z-Boy Residential, La-Z-Boy Kids, La-Z-Boy Hospitality, Lea Furniture, American Drew, Kincaid Furniture, Bauhaus USA Furniture, Hammary Furniture and England Furniture Incorporated
England Furniture Incorporated
England Furniture Incorporated is an American manufacturer of upholstered furniture. They are based in New Tazewell, Tennessee and were founded in 1964 by Charles England, Eugene England and Dwight England “whose goal was to provide employment to the people of Appalachia.” England is well known...
.
History
In 1928 cousins Edward M. Knabusch and Edwin J. Shoemaker partnered and invested in the furniture business in the small town of Monroe, Michigan. They set out to design a chair for what they called "nature’s way of relaxing."http://www.la-z-boy.com/media/history.swf Using orange crateCrate
A crate is a large shipping container, often made of wood, typically used to transport large, heavy or awkward items. A crate has a self-supporting structure, with or without sheathing. For a wooden container to be a crate, all six of its sides must be put in place to result in the rated strength...
s to mock-up and refine their idea, they invented a wood-slat porch chair with a reclining mechanism. Knabusch and Shoemaker then upholstered their innovation and marketed it as a year-round chair. The chair was a success; they held a contest
Sweepstakes
The United States consumer sales promotion known as a sweepstake has become associated with marketing promotions targeted toward both generating enthusiasm and providing incentive reactions among customers by enticing consumers to submit free entries into drawings of chance...
to name it—La-Z-Boy was the winner.
In 1969, after years primarily as a manufacturer of recliners, La-Z-Boy started designing other products including reclining sofas, sleep sofas and modular groups. In 1983 La-Z-Boy introduced its first line of stationary sofas and occasional chairs, later offering a full line of home furnishings.
In 2009 a man in Proctor
Proctor, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,852 people, 1,196 households, and 772 families residing in the city. The population density was 942.8 people per square mile . There were 1,246 housing units at an average density of 411.9 per square mile...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
was arrested
Motorized recliner incident
In October 2009, Dennis LeRoy Anderson of Proctor, Minnesota received wide attention for being arrested in a DWI case involving a motorized recliner. Anderson crashed into a car after leaving a local bar, where he had drunk a number of beers. The driver was convicted and the chair was confiscated...
for driving a motorised recliner while under the influence of alcohol. The police later put the chair up for auction on eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
as a La-Z-Boy since this was how it had been described in the press, but it was pointed out that the chair was not a La-Z-Boy.
Licensed manufacturers
In 1970 Morgan Furniture of TakapunaTakapuna
Takapuna is a central, coastal suburb of North Shore City, located in the northern North Island of New Zealand, at the beginning of a south-east-facing peninsula forming the northern side of the Waitemata Harbour...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, founded by Jack Morgan, commenced manufacture of the La-Z-Boy recliner for Australia and New Zealand. In September 2007 his son Graham Morgan announced that the company was to import the furniture from China and Thailand with the loss of around 200 Auckland manufacturing jobs.