Virginia Sterling acquires Canal Dover assets
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, October 5, 2008
CANFIELD, Ohio — Virginia Sterling Furniture, a solid- wood bedroom resource, has completed an asset purchase of Canal Dover Furniture, a Midvale, Ohio-based manufacturer of upper-middle-priced solid-wood dining rooms.
Virginia Sterling has taken over production in Canal Dover's 75,000 square feet of manufacturing operations in northeast Ohio, where it will produce the Virginia Sterling and Canal Dover product lines.
The facility employs 65, and Virginia Sterling said it plans to add 30 to 50 workers in the next eight months.
Virginia Sterling had been seeking a manufacturer since its previous partner, Vaughan Furniture, began to wind down its domestic production at its plant in Galax, Va., earlier this year.
Michael Scarsella, co-owner of Virginia Sterling, which was launched in April 2007 as a division of Vaughan, said Canal Dover's reputation as a producer of high-quality, solid-wood product “made it the obvious choice, and of course we remain American-made.”
Virginia Sterling has hired Lloyd Love, a former vice president of manufacturing at Durham Furniture, to oversee the plant operation in Ohio. Virginia Sterling's corporate office will remain in Canfield, an hour from the plant.
“Lloyd's more than 40 years of experience in solid wood will prove invaluable for our success,” Scarsella added in his statement.
Charles Kuder founded Canal Dover in 1987 and has been its president.
He will stay with the company for a brief period during the transition, Scarsella said.
Kuder said in a statement that he believes the Virginia Sterling line, along with the experience and track record of the Scarsella family, will “provide an exciting opportunity for this workforce to take the operation to a new level.”
Officials said that production will start immediately and that Virginia Sterling and Canal Dover products will be on display in Virginia Sterling's showroom (Market Square, space 204) at the High Point Market, which opens Oct. 20.
Over the next few months, Virginia Sterling will evaluate how both product lines dovetail from both a manufacturing and marketing perspective and will use that information to determine how to merge the two.
