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Southerland deal looks promising

Ray Allegrezza, Editor in Chief -- Furniture Today, March 1, 2010

If you've been reading Furniture/Today, you can't help but get the sense that the industry is ramping up for what we all hope will be a long period of incremental growth.

Last week's paper, for example, was full of stories about companies that were expanding, hiring or promoting. We also had a number of stories about retailers opening stores, testing new retail formats and more.

This week, the good news continues, in part with a story that details a new direction at Southerland, a Tennessee-based bedding producer. The company, which has been a successful family-owned business for more a century, is set to be acquired by its employees under an Employee Stock Ownership Plan buyout.

Once the deal is finalized, Southerland will be led by David Corbin, formerly of Chromcraft Revington and Pulaski; bedding veteran Steve Russo, formerly with Restonic, Consolidated Bedding and Latex International; and Bryan Smith, the current chief financial officer of Southerland.

Corbin and Russo will be co-presidents and Smith will be executive vice president and CFO. While having co-presidents is a new twist in home furnishings, this shared leadership approach has been adopted by firms such as Google, Guess, Imax and others.

The team told me that the plan calls for Southerland to continue to develop its own brands as well as create private-label brands for a select group of regional bedding retailers.

Having had the opportunity to interview Corbin numerous times during his tenure with Pulaski — and in particular in his work to link Pulaski and Build-A-Bear — I can tell you this guy takes his marketing and consumer research seriously.

His background at Procter & Gamble convinced him that product launches need the buy-in of consumers before new goods are brought to market.

So, after a short hiatus from the industry, the guy that brought Pulaski the Build-A-Bear youth furniture line is now ready to build a bed — actually, lots of them.

He is part of a seasoned team that's armed with savvy marketing and employees who will literally share in Southerland's success.

Now, let's see if he keeps his competitors up at night.

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