by October High Point presentation will feature motion and stationary upholstery made in its North Carolina plants
ROBBINS, N.C. — Minhas Furniture said it will have its largest presentation of domestic upholstery at the upcoming High Point Market, demonstrating its U.S. manufacturing capabilities for retailers looking to avoid steep tariffs.
In the stationary realm, the company will be showing 25 sectionals and 30 sofa, loveseat, chair groups, which include offerings at opening promotional price points.
The offerings also will include 10 motion groups in its new Minhas Motion line featuring sofas, sectionals and chairs along with 10 recliners.
In both segments, the mix will include some manual motion and some power motion (P1 & P2) offerings, although manual SKUs can be converted to power motion for an upcharge at the customer’s request. A few of the domestically produced sets also will be available in leather.
The mix also includes sleepers, an increasingly popular item being offered in the upholstery segment.
“It’s a big deal for us,” Mark Price, executive vice president of sales and marketing, told Home News Now. “We have a 35,000 square-foot showroom and generally 40%-45% of the showroom has been our domestic offering and the balance was always imports. But that’s going to flip this market. Probably at least 65% of the showroom, maybe even 70% of the showroom, will be domestic offerings.”
The product is made at two plants in Robbins, North Carolina, one of which produces higher volume orders for larger customers. The other, just across the street produces smaller volume orders for smaller accounts. Both facilities, however, can make the same type of product, Price said.
The company started producing its new motion line for a large retailer about a year ago out of its Calgary plant in Canada. As it started shipping the line, it geared up its motion production in Robbins, thus creating capacity in the U.S., while maintaining its operations in Canada. The U.S. production facilities also produce the sleepers and the stationary product.
While the company chose not to reveal specific pricing for the finished product coming out of Robbins before market, the company said it will be available at opening price points, making it competitive with Asian-made product facing tariffs. It also will ship to retailers more quickly than product coming from Asia, which has estimated 90-day lead times, from the time of order to when it hits the retailer’s floor or warehouse.
Price believes this is a way for customers to take advantage of the company’s domestic capabilities, particularly given the volatile situation with tariffs.
“When you look at the opening price point of a motion sofa from Vietnam and you add 25-30 points to it and then you add the freight, that is going to be the first opportunity for manufacturing to come back to the U.S.,” he said, noting that the company plans to start shipping the promotionally priced product as soon as December.
“This is a huge opportunity for us,” he added of the anticipated spike in demand for U.S.-made product. “I would imagine an upholstery buyer’s job at this market is going to have to be focused on solutions, and we are just trying to be there for what it’s going to take.”
At market, the company shows in Space W-748 of the International Home Furnishings Center.
