Legacy Classic establishes West Coast warehouse
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, July 28, 2008
CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif. — Legacy Classic has begun warehousing product here in hopes of broadening its western dealer base.
Legacy began shipping in June from a 100,000-square-foot facility it shares with sister company Universal Furniture.
Universal occupies most of the space, but Legacy has enough room to stock a selection of case goods it has determined are best suited for western markets.
The warehouse also will ship some of the company's best-selling youth furniture groups.
To help promote the facility, Legacy Classic will have a booth at a small furniture show at the Plaza Hotel during the market here. Jerry Sagerdahl, senior vice president of sales, will staff the booth along with 16 sales representatives serving western states.
Legacy will show primarily to the Pacific Furniture Dealers, a group of about 60 independent retailers in the region, Sagerdahl said. But he said all dealers are invited to the space.
It will feature five bedroom and dining room collections, four casual dining and four youth collections, said Legacy Classic President Lee Boone.
Legacy has shown at the World Market Center in Las Vegas before, but pulled out after the July 2007 market to focus on High Point. It has since decided it wanted to grow its West Coast business, which led to the warehouse initiative.
“It is mainly a sales effort to grow accounts and add new business,” Boone said, adding that 80% of Legacy's business is shipped container-direct from parent company Lacquer Craft Mfg. in China.
“That will not change, but we will create new business with smaller accounts.”
Boone said the California facility is well suited for small accounts that don't want to order container-direct and want quick delivery.
“We are off to a good start there,” Boone said, noting that goods ship from the new warehouse in as little as 24 hours. “The West Coast customer base includes a lot of small mom- and-pop accounts that enjoy the opportunity to do business out of a local warehouse, and we are addressing that.”
The company also will continue to operate its warehouse in High Point, which serves dealers nationwide.
Boone said the West Coast warehouse now serves California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona and Nevada, but he expects to add other states as more western dealers start shopping the line.
