DeFehr to focus on wood BR
By Michael J. Knell -- Furniture Today, October 6, 2003
| Palliser's history at a glance |
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Winnipeg, Manitoba — The newly created DeFehr Furniture will make solid-wood furniture in pine, oak and ash in traditional and transitional styles, concentrating on master bedroom but also offering home entertainment and home office in truckload quantities to select retailers at value prices.
The Palliser spinoff, in short, intends to compete head on with imports.
"We have a large, well-equipped plant and an experienced, dependable work force," said Rick DeFehr, customer service and distribution manager and son of chief executive officer Frank DeFehr. "We will be a low-cost producer, and our objective is to focus the product line to give the retailer a domestic wood story with exceptional service and delivery.... We are going to focus on a select group of accounts that we can sell truckloads to. We feel we have to take this approach so that we can pump up our volume to the point where we can offer real savings on the pricing."
Delivery times will be two to four weeks, he said.
"Our message to dealers is simple: To provide you with the competitive pricing and service you need, this is how we're going to have to do business with you," DeFehr said.
The company has relationships with many leading retail lights on both sides of the border, including Levitz, Seaman's, Rooms To Go, The Brick and Sears Canada, and with many larger independents.
"We will put more emphasis on the Canadian market, but we will continue to develop strong relationships in the United States with existing customers," DeFehr said.
"The DeFehr division, like many companies in the recent economic climate, wasn't performing as well as it had in the past," he said. "So we decided to take a division that had been underperforming and give it some TLC."
"This company will benefit by having significant synergies with Palliser," said CEO Frank DeFehr. "While our strategies are different, they are complementary, and the goal for both companies is to grow."
The upcoming High Point market will give the new company its first opportunity to meet retailers as an independent producer. DeFehr won't show much new product. "It will be an opportunity for dealers to get to know the new management," Rick DeFehr said. "It will be an opportunity to showcase where we're going."
DeFehr Furniture will exhibit this market in Palliser's showroom at 220 Elm. The company expects to have a number of dedicated sales representatives as well as several reps who will carry both Palliser and DeFehr products.
"My grandfather, who started Palliser, was extremely proud of this division," DeFehr said. "He would be very pleased to see the family working together. That's part of the reason for choosing the name, which is well known within the community and the furniture industry in Canada."
