Furniture First Adds Another Retailer of the Year to Membership

Last month Furniture First added two new members to its rolls: Brashears and Samsen Furniture.
Brashears, with two locations in Arkansas and one in Missouri, was recognized as HFA’s Retailer of the Year in 2010. This takes the count to eleven Furniture First members to have received the honor.
Doug and Susan Brashears are the third-generation owners of Brashears Furniture. Founded in 1935, the furniture store was an outgrowth of the family’s lumbermill business. Located in the heart of the Ozark woodlands, the stores have become a destination for furniture in the region by focusing on comfort and style. Brashears prides itself on offering customers a unique shopping experience with a distinctive mix of products.
Samsen Furniture, located in Northwest Ohio, recently reinstituted the family store name after the abrupt closure of Art Van, under which the owners had operated as a franchisee. The operation was founded in 1954 by Robert Samsen with the help of his father, Walter. Over the years the store has changed locations and expanded. It operated as an Ethan Allen for several years, until a move provided space to expand their selection. Today, Doug Samsen operates the family store and is in the process of reestablishing his family brand.
“Our membership standards have brought some outstanding retailers into our fold. You can see this in the number of our members who have won industry recognition awards” said Andrew Kauffman, CEO of Furniture First. “These retailers are recognized for their leadership and insight and they see all the advantages that our cooperative brings them. Its not just the rebates, it’s the open communication between the stores since they are not in head-to-head competition with each other that makes us different, and makes a difference to their to their businesses.”

About Furniture First: Furniture
First is a cooperative national home furnishings and mattress buying
group serving full line independent retailers with sales over $2
million. Collectively, the group sells $2.8 billion at retail with their
approved merchandise programs in the 512 member storefronts. Furniture
First occupies showrooms in Las Vegas (B530) and High Point (IHFC G-770)
where they display products from several of the group’s approved
vendors. For more information, visit www.FurnitureFirst.com or call 800-411-3477.