Today I spoke with a local resident, who has ties to Merchandise Mart in Chicago, about furniture. He had read about 45^th Parallel Furniture and wanted to contact the owner. I helped them connect.

Seems that the upholstered furniture business is taking off in Elk Rapids, even prior to the pending move-in to the old Super Tool building on U.S. 31.

Dennis is currently at High Point, North Carolina, the de facto furniture capital of America, meeting with resellers who want quality products, made in America and they want to do business with people they know and trust. Dennis and his partner Steve have been doing business with many of these retailers for 25 years, so they are indeed known and trusted. Now 45^th Parallel Furniture is poised to deliver furniture with these exceptional advantages:

• Great value – not the cheapest but the best bang for the buck.
• Smaller than standard-container size quantities of product, reducing the risk of dealing with piles of unsold inventory
• Just in time delivery, reducing warehousing costs
• Stylish quality fabric availability with an available four-week inventory instead of the typical 14 weeks.
• Quick turnaround from order to delivery, allowing resellers to cope with the fashion-driven furniture industry and the demand shifts that can occur. As Dennis said, “Upholstery is fashion.”

Although many regional furniture stores do well at selling clearance furniture, 45^th Parallel’s furniture will be available in the front, fashionable section of the store. Today’s emphasis is on quality and colors of fabric, and Dennis is positioned to deliver the latest and greatest threads.

1. Comfort – 92%. It better sit good!
2. Durability – 85%
3. Stain Resistant Fabric – 75%
4. Warranty – 59%
5. Made in USA – 54% [Lowest price was near the bottom at 19%.]

Domestic wood resources are finding greater interest in their products in part due to an increased demand from consumers seeking U.S.-made furniture.
…
Some of those resources showing at the High Point Market this week are touting the U.S.-made nature of their lines with hangtags or other signage that identifies them as an American producer.  Furniture Today

 

Elk Rapids Economic Development Director Lindy Bishop recently sent out this important announcement: A sofa is not a couch. No, that’s not it. The real one follows:

More Than Spare Change Under Sofa Cushions

Antrim County furniture maker finds start-up loan

Some things are just lucky that way, like as a kid, finding spare change dropped deep in the sofa cushions from your dad’s trouser pocket after he’s had a good snooze on the couch. But here, it was creative thinking and a regional perspective towards business clustering that uncovered start-up cash for Dennis Valkanoff’s new company, 45^th Parallel Furniture, designed to assemble upholstered sofas. The Grand Traverse County staff approved a $150,000 loan for 45^th Parallel under the GT County Revolving Loan Fund Program, managed by The GT County staff and the Chamber’s Traverse Bay Economic Development Corporation (EDC).

Dennis Valkanoff lives in Elk Rapids as well as North Carolina with a background in the furniture industry, law, and franchise restaurant development. His entrepreneurial mind couldn’t stop thinking of ways to put a business together with two complementary manufacturing companies existing in Elk Rapids: a furniture and cabinetmaker, Wooden Hammer, Ltd., (owned by Ed Hammer), and a garment cut and sew contract company, Traverse Bay Manufacturing (owned by Mark Toteff). So he’s making it happen with help from The Grand Traverse County staff, The Chamber’s Traverse Bay EDC, The Northern Lakes Economic Alliance and The Village of Elk Rapids.

Grand Traverse County officials recently revised their loan program reuse plan to fund projects outside of Grand Traverse County. “This is how we need to compete in today’s complex marketing environment,” said Tino Breithaupt, Senior Vice President of Economic Development for the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce. “Supporting regional cluster development is exactly what Grand Traverse County’s loan program is targeted to accomplish. And we are excited to make it happen in Antrim County.”

Andy Hayes, President of The Northern Lakes Economic Alliance, instrumental in identifying and facilitating this project for 45^th Parallel Company, commented on the accomplishment, “This is a great example of everyone pulling together to assist an entrepreneur grow our local economy.”

As the first recipient of the Grand Traverse County Revolving Loan Program outside of Grand Traverse County, Dennis, along with partner, Steve Heckenlaible, are now poised to take over the old Super Tool Building along US 31 in Elk Rapids. This is a building that sat empty for over 26 years. The Elk Rapids Planning and Zoning Commission convened in a special preliminary hearing for this project this past Tuesday evening where a decision was made to hold a public hearing on April 26^th, 7 p.m., at the Elk Rapids Governmental Center.

“We are looking forward to community enthusiasm and support for this project as it has many benefits including job creation and exposure to national furniture retail buyers pulled into the area by Dennis. He is going to use the inherent outdoor recreation assets of our region as the perfect sales backdrop for his business.” said Lindy Bishop, Elk Rapids Economic Development Director.” Bishop went on to say, “Dennis was so good at connecting the dots in a multi-dimensional way with his new enterprise that it looks like a form of market development we could truly call 3D. “

And she continued, “This is a great example of viewing the region in terms of industry clusters, recognizing efficiencies and shared resources. We are looking for ways to strengthen marketing channels and build opportunities for related industries here. Sometimes it’s in the holes, the negative spaces of these clusters, where new potential lies.”

45^th Parallel Furniture will be adding 13 new jobs in the area initially and looks forward to increasing that number dramatically over the next few years. Additionally, jobs will be retained and added at Wooden Hammer, Ltd. and Traverse Bay Manufacturing.