Casual Furniture Awards Winners, Finalists Named

June 12, 2006  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Casual Furniture on June 2006 The Casual Furniture Retailers and the Summer and Casual Furniture Manufacturers Association have announced that Allen Swers and William Carlton “W.C.” Vice will receive the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the casual furniture industry and to their communities. Swers and Vice will be honored at the 47th Annual Apollo Awards Banquet Sept. 15 during the International Casual Furniture and Accessories Market in Chicago.

Allen Swers helped found the outdoor furniture fabric industry in 1982 after coming across a Glen Raven awning and marine sample book. After 29 years in the upholstery and drapery fabric industry, Swers saw an opportunity for outdoor fabric manufacturing.

Swers retired in May 2003 at the age of 82, ending more than two decades of innovation at Glen Raven.

W.C. Vice was born into a farming family in the small community of Carlisle, Ky., and began his career as an entrepreneur at the age of 21 with the purchase of a small grocery store. After operating the grocery for eight years, he joined Vogue Rattan Company in Lexington, Ky., where he spent the next decade moving up the ranks to vice president and director of sales while developing a passion for the casual furniture industry.

At the age of 37, Vice left Vogue Rattan and opened his own casual furniture store in Lexington with his wife, Betty. Casual Living and Patio Center now operates two stores in Lexington and two in Louisville with 35 employees.

Vice was a charter member of the National Association of Casual Furniture Retailers and served as its first treasurer. His store has been nominated for the industry’s prestigious Apollo Award for retailing excellence more than a dozen times and has won the honor twice, in 1974 and again in 1995.

In addition to recognizing Swers and Vice at the banquet, the organization will name the winners of the Apollo Awards, which recognize retail excellence.

Finalists in the single-store category are: Dodds & Eder of Oyster Bay, N.Y.; Fruehauf’s Patio and Garden of Boulder, Colo.; Kolo Collection in Atlanta; Leisure Living in Salt Lake City, Utah; Paine’s Patio in West Falmouth, Mass.; and Sunnyland Furniture in Dallas.

In the multi-store category, finalists are: Carls Patio in Coconut Creek, Fla.; Georgia Backyard in Suwanee, Ga.; Greenhouse Mall in Austin, Texas; Patio & Hearth Shoppes in Centerville, Ohio; Patios Plus in Rancho Mirage, Calif.; and Waterloo Gardens in Exton, Pa.