Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Fusion Designs Solid Wood Barstools for Dinettes Unlimited
March 23,
2025 by Karen Parrish in Business Strategy, Industry 
Family-owned retail stores with decades of experience in the business can be a wealth of information about what consumers in their markets really want. So, when second-generation merchant, Edy Attanasio, vice president of specialty chain Dinettes Unlimited said there was a void in the market for solid wood barstools, Fusion Designs listened.
In fact, the retailer worked closely with Fusion Designs on product development for a new solid wood program rolling out on their store floors in coming weeks, making recommendations, and sharing consumer insights gleaned from working with customers on their store floors every day.
“As a smaller independent retailer, it can be difficult to get your voice heard by manufacturers. I was surprised that a manufacturer not only wanted to know what we saw happening in the marketplace, but Fusion’s team really listened to our requests for more modern, smaller scale barstools in neutral and coastal finishes with swivel designs,” said Attanasio.
The results of their input will be rolled out on store floors in the coming weeks, with three elegant designs—the Arya, Luca, and Quinn barstools—retailing in the range of $799 per barstool.
“We listen to retailers of any size, all the time, and wherever we can collaborate and create solutions, we’re always happy to do that,” said Marcus Bontrager, president. “One of the advantages of being a domestic manufacturer is that we can customize and develop product for retailers in a way that global entities bringing in product from overseas simply cannot.”
Indeed, until now, the majority of barstools in the marketplace have been metal and imported. Yet Attanasio, who grew up in her family’s three-store, Florida-based chain specializing in dinettes, caster chairs, counter and barstools believed that while there was a lack of quality, solid wood designs available, there are still customers in their marketplace who want high quality furniture made in America and who are willing to pay for it.
“We experienced our first success with Fusion Designs when we floored the Livonia castor chair two years ago,” she said. “In Florida, chairs on wheels are huge, but I thought the Livonia, which retails for $1,000, would be way too expensive for our middle-market customers.
Then people began sitting in them. The wood is beautiful, customers can just see and feel the quality, and the chairs just kind of hug the back. The Livonia quickly became a bestseller, and it showed us that not everyone wants throw-away furniture today.”
With husband Rob Attanasio, chief operating officer of Dinettes Unlimited, the retailers sell furniture the old-fashioned way, off samples on the floors, with customization and special- order options, and they try not to carry anything that can be drop-shipped or ordered online.
“We’re absolutely a specialty shop and about 70 percent of our business is custom. Our customers are willing to wait for what they want, and we make it a point to work with vendors like Fusion Designs that truly support brick and mortar stores,” said Rob Atanasio.