citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2008 learn how and when to remove this template message la z boy incorporated type public nyse lzb industry furnishings founded 1927 headquarters monroe michigan u.s. key people kurt l. darrow chairman president and ceo 1 products upholstered furniture and casegoods revenue 1.4 billion 1 number of employees 8 270 2015 website www.la z boy.com la z boy inc. le zi b is a furniture manufacturer based in monroe michigan usa that makes home furniture including upholstered recliners sofas stationary chairs lift chairs 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 australia germany indonesia italy japan mexico new zealand turkey and south africa . 2 la z boy holds us and international patents 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 lift chairs loveseats chairs ottomans and sleeper sofas . the casegoods group primarily sells manufactured or imported wood furniture to furniture retailers including tables chairs entertainment centers headboards 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 . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 the ladd furniture deal decline and recovery 2 licensed manufacturers 3 references 4 external links history edit early history edit a location at the savi ranch center in yorba linda la z boy furniture gallery rt. 1 saugus massachusetts 2001 la z boy in ontario 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 . 2 using orange crates 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 . 3 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 . 3 1981 sales were 150 million . 4 in 1983 la z boy introduced its first line of stationary sofas and occasional chairs later offering a full line of home furnishings . 3 the ladd furniture deal decline and recovery edit richard r. allen don a. hunziker and william o. fenn borrowed 70 million to buy lea american drew and daystrom from sperry & hutchinson in 1981 . ladd whose name came from the three companies began trading publicly in 1982 . 5 ladd was the third largest american maker of furniture for homes with over 600 million in sales when it bought six maytag businesses in 1990 . 6 ladd industries moved from high point north carolina to grandover in greensboro north carolina in november 1997 becoming the first company to locate its headquarters there . at the time it was the fifth largest american furniture maker with 500 million in sales and the brands american drew american of martinsville barclay clayton marcus lea pennsylvania house and pilliod . 7 in september 1999 la z boy at the time the largest american upholstered furniture manufacturer bought ladd the seventh largest american furniture maker for 197.8 million in stock and 101.5 million in assumed debt . saul cutler of bdo seidman said the deal sets up la z boy as an industry behemoth . 5 8 the deal approved in january 2000 gave la z boy 2 billion in sales and made it one of the country s two largest furniture makers furniture brands international being the other . on july 23 2001 la z boy announced the ladd name would cease to exist . john j. case president of la z boy residential moved to head the new la z boy upholstery group which included bauhaus centurion clayton marcus england hickorymark la z boy sam moore and la z boy contract furniture . don l. mitchell who headed the ladd casegoods group would take the same job at the la z boy casegoods group including alexvale american drew hammary kincaid lea pennsylvania house pilliod and american of martinsville . 5 9 competition from china hurt many american furniture makers and particularly la z boy s strategy of buying ladd to improve its casegoods position . in 2005 la z boy chairman pat norton called the ladd deal the biggest mistake that i have ever made in the furniture industry . 10 pilliod was the first ladd division sold to michels & co. in december 2001 . barclay was closed . american of martinsville was sold to hancock park associates in november 2006 . 11 sixteen of the former ladd plants had been sold or closed . 10 on september 6 2007 la z boy announced the sale of pennsylvania house to universal furniture . later that month came the sale of clayton marcus to sun capital affiliate lexington rowe leaving only american drew and lea among the ladd divisions . also sold was the sam moore division in february 2007 to hooker furniture . la z boy was still number three with 1.5 billion in shipments . 11 in november 2006 high point offered 600 000 to the la z boy division that was formerly ladd to move its headquarters back . 12 late in 2006 la z boy had 7000 employees down from 13 000 six years earlier . the company began working on its image telling consumers the company offered more than recliners . the company reduced its warehouses from twelve to five and announced plans to add 50 new generation stores to the 334 the company already had ; half of those used the new format already . 4 late in 2014 la z boy announced the closing of lea after an unsuccessful attempt to find someone to buy the company . the high point office would continue operations for american drew hammary and kincaid . 13 licensed manufacturers edit in 1970 morgan furniture of takapuna 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 . 14 references edit a b annual report 2015 pdf . la z boy incorporated . monroe michigan . retrieved 26 june 2016 . a b 1 archived december 27 2010 at the wayback machine . a b c our history official la z boy website . la z boy.com . retrieved 2012 04 28 . a b la z boy feels energetic about future company is restructuring to return the brand to profitability winston salem journal august 30 2006 p. d1 . a b c mark binker ladd takes la z boy name former ladd companies will now work under one of two la z boy divisions greensboro news & record july 24 2001 p. b7 . david mildenberg ladd s plant closing to eliminate 240 jobs greensboro news & record february 21 1990 p. a8 . scott andron ladd celebrates new headquarters greensboro news & record december 5 1997 p. b8 . la z boy to acquire ladd furniture . los angeles times . associated press . 1999 09 30 . retrieved 2012 10 26 . fran daniel restructuring of la z boy creates two new groups winston salem journal august 2 2001 p. d1 . a b richard craver the end of an era furniture manufacturing in the triad has suffered thousands of job losses in face of rising tide of imports winston salem journal october 9 2005 p. d1 . a b richard craver sun gets new deal la z boy to sell clayton marcus to lexington rowe winston salem journal september 14 2007 p. b6 . sue schultz la z boy gets incentive from high point greensboro news & record november 7 2006 p. b2 . arcieri katie september 12 2014 . la z boy to close down lea industries sell off inventory . triad business journal . retrieved october 1 2014 . taylor cliff 16 september 2007 . la z boy shifts to china . the new zealand herald . retrieved 13 october 2011 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to la z boy . official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title la z boy & oldid 740789391 categories companies listed on the new york stock exchangefurniture manufacturersfurniture retailers of the united statescompanies based in michigancompanies established in 1927monroe michiganhidden categories articles with wayback machine linksarticles needing additional references from december 2008all articles needing additional referencescommons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages norsk bokm l edit links this page was last modified on 23 september 2016 at 08 59 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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