3 new categories lift Linon
Ray Allegrezza -- Furniture Today, April 23, 2007
High Point — Linon Home Décor Products entered three new categories at market with its first bath vanities, electric fireplaces and jewelry armoires.
Some featured sustainable-source materials such as bamboo and raffia.
President Jim Ziozis also noted that the company has expanded its staff and opened its first office in China, in Dongguan. It has eight employees including a dedicated furniture engineer.
To oversee the Asian initiatives Linon has hired David Minnis, who has worked with retailers such as Target, Habitat and Conran's. Earlier this year, the company named David Walker, who spent 14 years with Powell, vice president of Asian sourcing.
"While we continue to secure product from Italy, Brazil and Romania, we are relying on Asia to help us source categories and products that we can't get from those countries," Ziozis said.
One such category is electric fireplaces. Linon showed buyers seven models, including a corner unit, at market. All feature electric heaters, and retails range from $299 to $399. "Moving forward, we will have more in the pipeline," Ziozis said.
The company also showed its first line of bathroom vanities, which feature granite tops and are slated to retail from $399 to $499. Some vanities feature hand-painted finishes.
"We were hoping our customers would give these new categories a warm reception, but even I was unprepared for how well they were received," Ziozis said. "While we got a thumbs-up on all the introductions, because of the depth and breadth of our assortments with the fireplaces and jewelry armoires, each of those really did well."
