by Timing of asset sale coincides with High Point Market where Bernards will show a number of occasional groups it has acquired in the line
HIGH POINT — Bernards’ recent acquisition of occasional furniture specialist Null Furniture received high praise from the company’s former principals and others in the industry who believe the full-line resource will carry the company’s legacy into the future.
Bernards announced the acquisition Friday, which transfers ownership of the company from former co-owners and executives Aaron Williams, president, and Nina Sadowski, vice president. Along with a number of inline occasional collections, the purchase included the company name along with other intellectual property and customer contacts.
“We’re excited to share that Bernards has acquired Null Furniture, making them your new source for all your favorite small-scale living room, occasional and accent tables,” Sadowski said in a post on LinkedIn announcing the deal. “We have deep respect for the Bernards team and full confidence that our valued partners will be well cared for moving forward.”
“We’re super excited,” added Williams, noting that the sale included about 10 occasional collections, or roughly 50% of the current designs in the line.
He has known Daniel Lim, owner and chief executive officer of Bernards Furniture Group, since around 2015 and first met Bernards President Micah Swick about two markets ago.
“I have gotten to know Micah really well over the last couple of weeks,” Williams said. “He is a very upstanding guy and is very knowledgeable. We also have known Daniel for more than 10 years. We just have the utmost confidence that they can take our line and move forward with it and continue to provide the same quality and service that we have had for so many years.”
Based in the Hickory area of North Carolina, Null Furniture has been in business for more than 50 years. Williams has been involved with the company for 33 years, starting out working in the factory for about a year beginning in 1992, then moving up to roles in product development and plant manager before becoming president and owner in the business starting in May 2005.
Sadowski started with the company in April 1999 as corporate office manager, a role she had for just over six years. She became co-owner and vice president in the business around June 2005, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Over the years, the company became a respected style leader for occasional and entertainment furniture, allowing it to complete the looks in many living rooms around the country. As the line was primarily sourced in Asia, tariffs became an issue this year, ultimately leading to a decision to close the business, which Home News Now reported last month.
“I would say a big part of that had to do with the trade war,” Williams told Home News Now, noting that the company has been run just by himself and Sadowski for the past 20 years, as they handled all the day-to-day operations.
As the company was still sourcing a lot of its mix from China, things reached a turning point, particularly when tariffs rose to triple-digit rates earlier this spring before settling down to about 30% in May. With negotiations failing on multiple levels, President Donald Trump announced they were headed back to 100% effective Nov. 1.
“It just came to a point when the tariffs basically went out of sight in China,” Williams said. “We were still sourcing a lot of our product from China and had some containers on order and we ended up canceling a bunch of those. It kind of snowballed from there.”
Of the sale to Bernards, he noted, “We always said, we didn’t want to do this for the rest of our working careers, and we just felt like this was a good opportunity.”
He said while he and Sadowski have no plans to work for Bernards, “we will be here to help with the transition and provide them with anything they need.”
At this point, he added that as a small business made up of two owners and employees, “We always flew under the radar so to speak. But we are at peace with this and are excited that part of the line is moving forward. We have a lot of confidence in their ability to move it forward and provide a good quality product and service similar to what we did for all those years.”
He added that the company has had a lot of good loyal customers over the years and that “we are going to encourage our customers to partner with them. … A lot of them have been with us a long time and they were really heartbroken to see us leave the industry and wondering where they will get their occasional from now on. Hopefully, they will partner with Bernards to be able to get their occasional furniture and hopefully Bernards can pick up some new business this upcoming market.”
