View source for La-Z-Boy

{{short description|American furniture company}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2019}}
{{Infobox company
| name   = La-Z-Boy Inc.
| type   = Public
| traded_as = {{nyse|lzb}}<br />[[S&P 600]] component
|logo   = [[File:La-Z-Boy Logo.svg|200px|class=skin-invert]]
|logo_size = 200px
|slogan =
|area_served = {{unbulleted list |United States| Canada|Australia |United Kingdom|Germany|Indonesia| Italy|Japan|Mexico|New Zealand|Turkey|South Africa}}
|foundation     = {{Start date and age|1927}}
|founders       = Edward Knabusch<br>Edwin Shoemaker
|location       = [[Monroe, Michigan]], U.S.
| locations           = 531 (31. June 2022)
|key_people     = Melinda Whittington, President and CEO<ref name=AR2020/>
|num_employees  = 11,500 (FY 2021)
|revenue        = {{increase}}US$ 1.73 billion (2021)<ref name=AR2020>{{cite web|title=Annual Report 2020|url=http://lazboy.gcs-web.com/static-files/b52806e2-76ca-4636-8d70-db6e3f94415e|website=La-Z-Boy Incorporated|access-date=June 29, 2021|location=Monroe, Michigan}}</ref>
|profit         = {{increase}}US$ 106.5 million (2021)
|assets         = {{increase}}US$ 1.79 billion (2021)
|industry       = [[Furniture]]
|subsid           = [[England Furniture Incorporated]]
|products       = Upholstered furniture and casegoods
|homepage       = {{Official URL}}
}}
'''La-Z-Boy Inc.''' (pronounced "lazy boy") is an American furniture manufacturer based in [[Monroe, Michigan]], United States, that makes home furniture, including upholstered [[recliner]]s, sofas, stationary chairs, [[lift chair]]s and [[sofa bed|sleeper sofas]]. The company employs more than 11,000 people.
La-Z-Boy furniture is sold in [[retail]] residential outlets in the United States and Canada and is manufactured and distributed under license in other countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Turkey, South Africa, Kuwait and Qatar.<ref name="la-z-boy1">[http://www.la-z-boy.com/About/History/] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101227184537/http://www.la-z-boy.com/About/History/|date=December 27, 2010}}</ref> La-Z-Boy holds US and international [[patent]]s on more than 200 different styles and mechanisms.
The Wholesale segment includes England, La-Z-Boy, American Drew, Hammary, Kincaid and the company's international wholesale and manufacturing businesses. The company-owned Retail segment includes approximately 165 La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores out of about 350. Joybird is an e-commerce retailer and manufacturer of upholstered furniture.
==History==
===Early history===
[[File:LA-Z-Boy.jpg|thumb|x200px|A location at the Savi Ranch Center in [[Yorba Linda]]]]
[[File:LA-Z-BOY store.jpg|thumb|La-Z-Boy Furniture Gallery on Rte. 1 in Saugus, Massachusetts, in 2001]]
[[File:La-Z-Boy3083Hwy7-3.jpg|thumb|La-Z-Boy in Markham, Ontario]]
In 1927, cousins Edward M. Knabusch and Edwin J. Shoemaker partnered and invested in the furniture business in the town of Monroe, Michigan. They set out to design a chair for what they called "nature’s way of relaxing."<ref name="la-z-boy1"/> Using orange [[crate]]s to mock-up and refine their idea, they invented a wood-slat porch chair with a reclining mechanism. Knabusch and Shoemaker then upholstered their innovation and marketed it as a year-round chair. The chair was a success; they held a [[Sweepstakes|contest]] to name it—La-Z-Boy was the winner.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web|url=http://www.la-z-boy.com/About/History/?WT.ac=sidemenu |title=Our History – Official La-Z-Boy Website |publisher=La-z-boy.com |access-date=April 28, 2012}}</ref>
In 1969, after years primarily as a manufacturer of recliners, La-Z-Boy started designing other products including reclining sofas, sleep sofas and modular groups.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> 1981 sales were $150 million.<ref name=Energetic/> In 1983, La-Z-Boy introduced its first line of stationary sofas and occasional chairs, later offering a full line of [[home furnishings]].<ref name=autogenerated1 />
===The LADD Furniture deal, decline, and recovery===
Richard R. Allen, Don A. Hunziker and William O. Fenn borrowed $70 million to buy [[Lea Furniture|Lea]], [[American Drew]] and [[Daystrom]] from [[S&H Green Stamps|Sperry & Hutchinson]] in 1981. LADD, whose name came from the three companies, began trading publicly in 1982.<ref name=Binker>Mark Binker,"LADD Takes La-Z-Boy Name: Former LADD Companies Will Now Work Under One of Two La-Z-Boy Divisions," ''[[Greensboro News & Record]]'', July 24, 2001, p. B7.</ref> LADD was the third-largest American maker of furniture for homes, with over $600 million in sales, when it bought six [[Maytag]] businesses in 1990.<ref>David Mildenberg, LADD's Plant-Closing to Eliminate 240 Jobs," ''Greensboro News & Record'', February 21, 1990, p. A8.</ref> LADD Industries moved from [[High Point, North Carolina]] to [[Grandover]] in [[Greensboro, North Carolina]] in November 1997, becoming the first company to locate its headquarters there. At the time it was the fifth-largest American furniture maker, with $500 million in sales, and the brands [[American Drew]], [[American of Martinsville]], [[Barclay Furniture|Barclay]], [[Clayton Marcus]], Lea, [[Pennsylvania House Furniture|Pennsylvania House]] and [[Pilliod]].<ref>Scott Andron, "LADD Celebrates New Headquarters," ''Greensboro News & Record'', December 5, 1997, p. B8.</ref> In September 1999, La-Z-Boy, at the time the largest American upholstered furniture manufacturer, bought LADD, the seventh-largest American furniture maker, for $197.8 million in stock and $101.5 million in assumed debt. Saul Cutler of [[BDO Seidman]] said the deal "sets up La-Z-Boy as an industry behemoth."<ref name=Binker/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-sep-30-fi-16766-story.html|title=La-Z-Boy to Acquire Ladd Furniture|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|agency=[[Associated Press]]|date=September 30, 1999|access-date=October 26, 2012}}</ref> The deal, approved in January 2000, gave La-Z-Boy $2 billion in sales and made it one of the country's two largest furniture makers, [[Furniture Brands International]] being the other.
On July 23, 2001, La-Z-Boy announced the LADD name would cease to exist. John J. Case, president of La-Z-Boy Residential, moved to head the new La-Z-Boy upholstery group, which included Bauhaus, Centurion, Clayton Marcus, England, HickoryMark, La-Z-Boy, Sam Moore and La-Z-Boy Contract Furniture. Don L. Mitchell, who headed the LADD casegoods group, would take the same job at the La-Z-Boy casegoods group, including Alexvale, American Drew, Hammary, Kincaid, Lea, Pennsylvania House, Pilliod and American of Martinsville.<ref name=Binker/><ref>Fran Daniel, "Restructuring of La-Z-Boy Creates Two New Groups," ''[[Winston-Salem Journal]]'', August 2, 2001, p. D1.</ref>
Competition from China hurt many American furniture makers, and particularly La-Z-Boy's strategy of buying LADD to improve its casegoods position. In 2005, La-Z-Boy chairman Pat Norton called the LADD deal "the biggest mistake that I have ever made in the furniture industry."<ref name=Craver>Richard Craver, "The End of an Era: Furniture Manufacturing in the Triad Has Suffered Thousands of Job Losses in Face of Rising Tide of Imports," ''Winston-Salem Journal'', October 9, 2005, p. D1.</ref> Pilliod was the first LADD division sold, to Michels & Co. in December 2001. Barclay was closed. American of Martinsville was sold to Hancock Park Associates in November 2006.<ref name=Sun/> Sixteen of the former LADD plants had been sold or closed.<ref name=Craver/> On September 6, 2007, La-Z-Boy announced the sale of Pennsylvania House to [[Universal Furniture]]. Later that month came the sale of Clayton Marcus to [[Sun Capital]] affiliate Lexington-Rowe, leaving only American Drew and Lea among the LADD divisions. Also sold was the Sam Moore division, in February 2007 to Hooker Furniture. La-Z-Boy was still number three, with $1.5 billion in shipments.<ref name=Sun>Richard Craver, "Sun Gets New Deal: La-Z-Boy to Sell Clayton Marcus to Lexington-Rowe," ''Winston-Salem Journal'', September 14, 2007, p. B6.</ref>
In November 2006, High Point offered $600,000 to the La-Z-Boy division that was formerly LADD to move its headquarters back.<ref>Sue Schultz, "La-Z-Boy gets incentive from High Point," ''Greensboro News & Record'', November 7, 2006, p. B2.</ref>
Late in 2006, La-Z-Boy had 7,000 employees, down from 13,000 six years earlier. The company began working on its image, telling consumers the company offered more than recliners. The company reduced its warehouses from twelve to five and announced plans to add 50 New Generation stores to the 334 the company already had; half of those used the new format already.<ref name=Energetic>"La-Z-Boy Feels Energetic about Future: Company Is Restructuring to Return the Brand to Profitability," ''Winston-Salem Journal'', August 30, 2006, p. D1.</ref>
Late in 2014, La-Z-Boy announced the closing of Lea after an unsuccessful attempt to find someone to buy the company. The High Point office would continue operations for American Drew, Hammary, and Kincaid.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/triad/blog/2014/09/high-point-based-lea-industries-to-shut-down.html|title=La-Z-Boy to close down Lea Industries, sell off inventory|last=Arcieri|first=Katie|work=[[Triad Business Journal]]|date=September 12, 2014|access-date=October 1, 2014}}</ref>
==Licensed manufacturers==
In 1970, Morgan Furniture of [[Takapuna]], New Zealand, founded by Jack Morgan, commenced manufacture of the La-Z-Boy recliner for Australia and New Zealand. In September 2007 his son Graham Morgan announced that the company was to import the furniture from China and Thailand with the loss of around 200 [[Auckland]] manufacturing jobs.<ref name="NZ_Herald_10463800">{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/economy/news/article.cfm?c_id=34&objectid=10463800 |title=La-Z-Boy shifts to China |author=Taylor, Cliff |date=September 16, 2007 |work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |access-date=October 13, 2011}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[Barcalounger]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{Commons category|La-Z-Boy}}
* {{Official website}}
{{Monroe, Michigan}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Furniture companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies based in Michigan]]
[[Category:Monroe, Michigan]]
[[Category:American companies established in 1927]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1927]]
[[Category:1927 establishments in Michigan]]
[[Category:Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange]]