by MIDDLETOWN, Pa. – Darvin Furniture of Orland Park, Illinois has been approved for membership by the Furniture First Board of Directors. “Furniture First has a growth oriented, grass roots perspective which is similar to ours, here at Darvin Furniture. We’re looking forward to our new partnership.” Will Harris, President of Darvin Furniture & Mattress.
Originating in the 1920’s as door-to-door furniture sales from a catalog, Louis Darvin and his son David opened the doors of their first store in Chicago in the early 1940s. David’s sons, Steve and Marty, joined the business in the 1970s. Darvin moved to Orland Park in the 1980’s and expanded the showroom multiple times to its present 200,000 square foot showroom on a 13-acre campus.
In 2019 Darvin transitioned to an employee-owned corporation and Will Harris joined the organization as President. The namesake brothers remain on the board of directors, with Steve Darvin serving as CEO and Marty Darvin serving as Board Chairman, as well as Duke Petrovich former President of the Wrigley company.
“Our team got to know Darvin at the first post-covid Leadership Conference in 2021,” said Andrew Kauffman, CEO of Furniture First. “We are thrilled that they have decided to join us. We know that they see the value of engaging with a welcoming group of like-minded retailers, aside from the rebate dollars our programs provide.”
Furniture First is a cooperative national home furnishings and mattress buying group serving full line independent retailers with sales over $2 million. Collectively, the group sells $3 billion at retail. Furniture First will open a new High Point showroom at 336 South Main Street this October. Furniture First will occupy the first two floors where they will display the new line up of their private label mattress line, Mattress 1st. The first floor will host several business service and marketing providers where retailers, whether they are members or not, can learn more about the services they provide. The upper two floors will accommodate tenants, including TD Retail Card Services and Knorr Marketing; Vaughn-Bassett will move to the top floor of the new building in April 2024. A portion of the third floor is still available for lease, including the main street side balcony. Interested parties should contact Marc DeLille at Price Commercial Properties by calling 336-812-3175.
For more information on Furniture First Membership, please visit www.JoinFurnitureFirst.com or call 800-411-3477.
