Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Furniture First Approves 3 New Members, Readies for Annual Symposium
May 6,
2019 by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, High Point, Industry, Market 
Three retailers joined the Furniture First buying group during the month of April. Key Home Furnishings in Lake Oswego, Oregon received approval just prior to last month’s High Point Market. Quarles Furniture in Bolivar, Missouri and Groen’s Fine Furniture in Dyer, Indiana were both approved in a board meeting last week.
New members who joined the cooperative buying group in the past 12 months have been invited to attend an orientation session in advance of the group’s annual symposium, May 13 – 15. The Symposium will take place at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, California.
New members attending will convene a day early for an introductory dinner with Furniture First leadership, followed by a morning session that gives new members an overview of all the programs and services the cooperative offers. In return for their attendance of the dinner and morning session, each company will receive a travel stipend in addition to the complementary room nights all members enjoy at the annual education event.
The Furniture First symposium is expected to draw more than 310 attendees. 67 of the group’s merchandise and service partners sponsor the event, which will feature networking events and three guest speakers. Brad Montgomery will open the symposium with his talk on the “The How's and Wise of Happiness.” Tuesday’s featured speaker will be Ryan Estis who is speaking on “Passion on Purpose.” Navy veteran Rob O’Neill will be the final speaker of the symposium on Wednesday; a copy of O’Neill’s memoir, The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a Seal Team Warrior, will be given to each company attending the symposium.
“This is a tremendously exciting time for Furniture First,” said Andrew Kauffman, CEO of Furniture First. “Our 25th Anniversary Gala at the High Point Market was a great success and we have added seven new members in 2019. We are hard at work getting ready for our symposium and that will be followed by an in-person board meeting which will focus on strategic planning.”