WHFA honors Bensimon
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, April 2, 2006
Roseville, Calif. — Ronny Bensimon, president of Los Angeles-based Dearden's furniture stores, has been named the 2006 Western Retailer of the Year by the Western Home Furnishings Assn.
He will receive the award May 23 at a gala dinner during the 46th Annual WHFA Managerial Conference and Trade Show in Hawaii.
Each year, the WHFA honors a home furnishings retailer who is exemplary in merchandising, advertising, store design and business practices, demonstrates service to his community, and maintains a commitment to support the betterment of the home furnishings industry.
WHFA Board President David Harkness of Harkness Furniture in Tacoma, Wash., noted that Bensimon has been active in the WHFA since 1992, has been a board member for 10 years, and served as president in 1999.
"He has had a strong influence on our industry and made innumerable contributions to the growth of the association over the years," said Harkness.
Mary Ann Levitt, president of the National Home Furnishings Assn. and president of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Breuners Arizona, said Bensimon "has a record of outstanding contributions to the industry. He's a doer. He gets involved, and he makes things happen."
"He's an awesome human being," said Angel Lopez, vice president at Dearden's, who has worked with Bensimon for eight years. "He's someone I look up to and respect, worthy of everything he gets in life."
Under Bensimon's guidance, Dearden's has been active in philanthropy in its communities.
The company, founded in 1909 by Edgar Dearden and now in its fourth generation of family ownership, is one of the oldest home furnishings retailers in the West. Its target market is the Spanish-language dominant, low-to-middle income consumer in Southern California. Nearly all its 600-plus employees are bilingual.
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