Legacy Classic plunges into youth category with 4 groups
By Jeff Linville -- Furniture Today, April 18, 2004
HIGH POINT — Legacy Classic is taking a big plunge into the youth category this market with about 100 products in four styles.
Rather than enter the market with a few SKUs, Legacy Classic Kids is drawing upon the strength of its parent company, Chinese manufacturer Lacquer Craft, to import four collections of 25 pieces each.
Legacy Classic President Kevin O'Connor, who worked for youth specialist Lea Inds. in the 1980s, began planning this new line more than a year ago.
About that time, Lee Boone, then Lea's vice president of sales, was looking to return to the Lacquer Craft family — he had worked for Universal from 1988 to 2001 — and joined Legacy Classic in July. He is general manager of the new youth division.
Boone said the mistake some companies make in youth is just dabbling. To be successful, he said, a manufacturer needs to address the major styles and important pieces.
Legacy Classic's four youth styles this market are a painted white cottage group, Summer Breeze; a brown cherry, boyish look, American Spirit; a white Victorian, Enchantment; and a unisex look in light maple, Freestyle. Another collection still being tweaked is a girlish French in cherry, suitable for high school and college females.
To make the line simple for both sales reps and retailers, Legacy Classic has planned its merchandising so that every collection has a starting metal bed at $199, a style-related bed at $399 and a stepup model such as a sleigh or poster bed at $499. Dressers will retail around $399 and bureaus at $499.
Each collection also will have signature pieces. American Spirit and Freestyle have bookcase headboards, Summer Breeze has a daybed, and Enchantment has a glass-front wardrobe and an armoire.
All the goods are made with solid woods and veneers in Lacquer Craft's new 4 million-square-foot factory in Shanghai. The furniture will be processed through a fully automated container-mixing warehouse, said Boone, which can combine product from all of Legacy Classic's categories.
Boone said retailers have voiced concerns about eroded values from U.S. youth producers, and are concerned about high prices and an oversaturation of product from the biggest companies. Legacy Classic Kids intends to carve out a niche by offering the top styles and SKUs with compelling values from Lacquer Craft, he said.
With the division in its infancy, Boone said the youth product is only available to direct-container customers right now. However, 75,000 square feet has been added to the Whitsett, N.C., warehouse to store goods for those customers as additional sales support.
To showcase the new program, Legacy Classic has built a separate concept room at the front of its showroom in Plaza Suites.
Based on the strong response at premarket, Legacy already has planned its first production to begin in August.
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