Herscovitz to lead Accentage's U.S. sales effort
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, September 29, 2008
HIGH POINT — Case goods veteran Eduardo Herscovitz has left importer American Dream Rooms for a position at casual dining specialist Accentage Furniture Corp.
Accentage was formed about a year ago as a U.S. marketing arm of Prochain World Corp., a Taiwanese holding company with manufacturing facilities in Tianjian, China.
Its two factories there continue to produce on an OEM basis, but are now also producing under the Accentage brand.
Accentage showed for the first time in High Point in April in the American Dream Rooms showroom. It plans to show in High Point again this October but will be in another space, yet to be determined. Its lineup will include 25 new casual dining groups, some of which have companion sideboards and barstools, Herscovitz said.
Herscovitz, who left American Dream Rooms in late June, is vice president of sales and operations at Accentage. He works with Joe Zeiser, vice president of merchandising.
The president of Accentage is Bill Chien, a shareholder of Prochain.
The company specializes in wood dinettes as well as dinettes with mixed-media elements such as metal, stone and glass. A table with four to six chairs retails from $299 to $799, with most of the groups falling in the $399 to $599 range.
Herscovitz said the groups will be shipped on full and mixed containers from Prochain's warehouse facilities in China. He said the company also may add warehouse facilities in Miami and on the West Coast, but those plans are still in the formative stages.
“We will have a very small footprint here in the U.S. and a very large operation in China, with customer service, warehouses and everything in stock,” he said.
Before joining American Dream Rooms earlier this year, Herscovitz was president of International Furniture, a company that primarily sourced products from China and Brazil. Before that, he worked for Brazil Furniture Group, an organization that helped market and distribute bedrooms produced by Brazil manufacturers Renar and Rotta.
Herscovitz said he believes Accentage will have a distinct advantage in the marketplace through its relationship with a Chinese factory.
“This is one of the first Chinese container-direct casual dining programs available,” he said. “We will be able to mix because of the warehouses we have there.”
He added that the category has strong growth potential in the industry as consumers favor more casual rather than formal dining footprints.
“The trend is moving towards casual dining,” he said. “I believe the category has a very good future even though the economy is still in a very difficult situation.”
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