1927. A beer was a nickel. Lindberg was soaring over the Atlantic.
It was a roaring time in a nation where anything and everything could
happen. Edwin Shoemaker and his cousin Edward Knabusch decided they'd start
a business to make the best and most comfortable furniture America had ever
seen.
They did it. Here's their story.
March 24, 1927
Ed Shoemaker and Ed Knabusch found the Floral City Furniture Company and
build a plant in a cornfield in the middle of nowhere. They work 16 hour
days and earn $5 a week each.
The town of Monroe, Michigan has serious doubts about the plant.
And about the sanity of the men building it.
1928
The most momentous event in the history of relaxation: the two Eds invent
an unbelievably comfortable wood slat porch chair. Naming contest entries
include "Comfort Carrier", "Sit-N-Snooze",and "Slack-Back" . The two Eds
-- wisely -- choose "La-Z-Boy".
April 1929
The boys need $10,000 for patents and start-up costs.
Family and friends pitch in.
Ed Shoemaker's dad literally bets the farm, mortgaging it to a local banker.
Hey, the economy is booming. What could go wrong? (A lot, as it turns out.)
Spring, 1929
An Ohio store refuses to buy Ed Knabusch's porch chair because it won't
sell year-round. Ed decides to upholster the chair. The response is
tremendous: the La-Z-Boy chair sweeps the public off its feet.
October 29, 1929
Wall Street crashes, ushering in the Great Depression. But Edward and
Edwin's belief in their product never wavers. Despite the hardships of the
times, they decide to open a furniture store to sell the furniture they've
been making. People come to the store clamoring for La-Z-Boy chairs,
offering everything from wheat to coal and cows as furniture payment!
By the end of the Depression, the two Eds had collected quite a menagerie
of farm animals, which is pretty ironic since Ed Shoemaker went into the
furniture business to get away from the farm.
While other businesses fail, the decision to open the store not only saves
the company, but amazingly, by 1930, the company triples in size!
On to the 40s, 50s and 60s