Who is ashley furniture named after

As a company, we work together to continuously improve and strive to be the best furniture company, which would not be possible without all of our employees. Today, Ashley has more than 17, employees nationwide over 35, worldwide and has over 30 million square feet of manufacturing and distribution space under roof.

As the largest retail furniture store brand in North America, Ashley offers one of the largest product assortments to more than 1, Ashley HomeStores and 20, storefronts throughout countries. During this trying time, this recognition means even more to our organization as it comes directly from the great people who make our company great — our employees.

Ashley offers many different opportunities to grow a career company-wide. Design Assistant. Ellisfield Collection. Kravet Furniture. The Modern Collection.

Coalesce Furniture. Perennials Fabrics and Rugs. Perennials by Vincent Van Duysen. USAI Lighting. Lulu and Georgia. Fall Collection: Artful Proportions. BOH offers a quarterly in-depth analysis of the topics that matter most to the interior design community—plus digital access to all magazine issues.

Subscribe ». Per Business of Home , the size of Ashley Furniture can be attributed to a few different things. The first is that while many retailers sell a lot of furniture , they aren't actually making it.

Ashley Furniture both manufactures and sells all of its furniture — so they have control over all aspects of production. Not to mention, this includes a lot of profit on both ends. Perhaps it helps that Ashley Furniture really began as a manufacturing company after the merger of — and while they were selling their furniture, it wasn't directly to customers in a retail store.

Another reason that Ashley Furniture grew so quickly is the fact that by , they were already having certain products made in Asia — unlike many competitors, who kept their manufacturing in the United States.

By the time the company opened their first retail storefront — Ashley HomeStore — in , they were already leagues ahead of other furniture manufacturers. Ashley Furniture officially became the largest furniture retailer in the United States in , after already being awarded the title of biggest furniture manufacturers in Beginning in , there were two Wanek family members who worked at Ashley Furniture: Ron Wanek the founder of the company and his son, Todd Wanek.

Per the Ashley Furniture historical timeline , Todd stayed at the headquarters in Wisconsin for 10 years, until traveling overseas to manage Ashley Furniture Industries Taiwan after college. According to Forbes , he made his way back stateside in Todd continues to serve as the CEO at the time this article was written, and has helped lead Ashley Furniture to become the giant retailer and manufacturer it is today.

Original general manager of Arcadia Furniture and founder of Ashley Furniture, Ron Wanek, has consistently remained one of the richest Americans, according to Forbes. He's been on and off the list through the years, but as of the rankings, he remains in the top half of this group. This is primarily due to the fact that Ron's net worth is in the billions. Though not quite as large of a net worth as his father's, the amount of money Todd has managed to secure in his time at Ashley Furniture is still significant.

And, at the time this article was written, his position on the list is th. In addition to their headquarters in Arcadia, Wisconsin, Ashley Furniture also has large production plants and facilities in Ecru, Mississippi.

In fact, these sites date all the way back to the s. With the success of its bedroom line, Ashley decided in the late s to begin to make mattresses and box springs as well. Dealers often sold bedroom furniture sets complete with mattress and box springs, so Ashley believed it could use its existing strength to get in on this market. Its sleep products line was a quick success, as it managed to make something that looked like an old-fashioned mattress but that boasted high-tech construction.

To strengthen its position in motion furniture, Ashley acquired another Mississippi company in This was Gentry Furniture, of Ripley, Mississippi, a leading maker of reclining sofas and sectionals. Ashley gambled that motion furniture was still a strong growth area. It continued and expanded Gentry's lines and used its plant solely for motion furniture. Its other Mississippi upholstery plant, in Ecru, devoted itself exclusively to stationary furniture.

In the company also branched out into retailing, licensing stores to independent dealers. The chain grew in its first year to roughly 40 stores.

By the year , Ashley Furniture Industries employed more people in Arcadia than the town's total population of slightly more than 2, The plant in Arcadia had grown from 35, square feet in to 1.

Ron Wanek still ran the company, with Chuck Vogel. Wanek's son Todd was a co-owner and chief operating officer, while Vogel's son Ben was another co-owner and vice-president. The company had received offers to take the company public, but its owners preferred to keep it under local control. Ashley continued to offer innovative designs. Its design teams scoured the country for ideas and came up with new products every six months.

Its designers tended to look for excitement. For example, the company had pushed its motion furniture since the early s, and by it had bought up a patented design to allow it to produce elaborate 'command center' chairs. The arm of the chair opened up to reveal a telephone, controls for a chair vibrator, and even a small refrigerator.

The company's almost restless approach to marketing had paid off. Sales pushed steadily upward. The fifth largest furniture maker in the United States, the company continued to pour out new ideas in the early 21st century. James Press,