Larry Smith to chair Furniture First board

Other officers also elected to lead buying group

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, May 17, 2011

Larry Smith

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Larry Smith of Smith Home Furnishings, Ponca City, Okla., was elected chairman of the Furniture First buying group during its general membership meeting at the April High Point Market.

Smith replaces Jeff Winter of Discovery Furniture, Topeka, Kan., who continues to serve on the board.

Other officers elected included Mike Kordik, Mike's Furniture, Joliet, Ill., vice chairman; and Russell Blocker, Blocker's Furniture, Ocala, Fla., secretary. Beth Barnes, FurnitureLand, Delmar, Del., continues as treasurer. Chris Ehgoetz of Michael Alan Furnishings, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., was elected to the board.

Furniture First also congratulated outgoing board member Ron Hatch, Hatch Furniture, Yankton, S.D., and thanked him for his board service for the past 10 years.

At the meeting, the group also introduced its new specialty mattress collection for the Mattress 1st line - Superior Living with its eight memory foam and latex models, all manufactured by supplier partner Serta.

"Superior Living was just introduced (in April), and the placements of the new line have already been phenomenal," Jonathan Gaspari, Furniture First director of mattresses, said in a press release. "The success of the innerspring line has been off the charts, and we're expecting even greater growth with ... Superior Living."

He described the new line as "the hottest product in the market at $999 and under."

Furniture First has 174 company members with 366 storefronts and $1.3 billion in annual retail sales.