User:Grika/Room & Board

Room & Board is an American furniture and home furnishings company based in Golden Valley, Minnesota. Founded by John Gabbert in 1980, it has 700 employees and operates 12 stores in seven states plus six delivery/distribution centers around the country. 85% of Room & Board products are American-made and 95% are exclusive to Room & Board. The company partners with small, family-owned producers of sofas, chairs, and tables and office, bedroom, and outdoor furniture. Offerings through a print catalog and website, Shop From Home, comprise the fastest-growing segment of Room & Board's business. Hoover's lists Euromarket, IKEA, and Pier 1 Imports as competitors. Room & Board charges a 10% restocking fee on special orders, which may result in a lot of returns—which are all sent to the company's Golden Valley distribution center, attracting local buyers as well as shoppers from surrounding states.

Locations

 * Edina, MN
 * Culver City, CA
 * San Francisco, CA
 * Santa Ana, CA
 * Denver, CO
 * Atlanta, GA
 * Chicago, IL
 * Oak Brook, IL
 * Skokie, IL
 * SoHo, NY
 * Washington, D.C

Plus an outlet store in Golden Valley, MN

Major Designers

 * Yves Behar
 * Mario Bellini
 * Achille Castiglioni
 * Charles and Ray Eames
 * Foster & Partners
 * Naoto Fukasawa
 * Frank Gehry
 * Vladimir Kagan
 * Ross Lovegrove
 * Herman Miller
 * Jasper Morrison
 * George Nelson
 * Isamu Noguchi
 * Richard Sapper
 * Philippe Starck
 * Marcel Wanders
 * Hans Wegner

Philanthropy
As of 2008, for six years the company sponsored a contest for Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) students of furniture design to develop outdoor seating. The company today sponsors a contest for MCAD students to design an alternative to a sleeper sofa.

Publicity
Room & Board's products are sometimes featured in The New York Times. Vladimir Kagan, designer of a 1950s Serpentine sofa that sold at Christie's for 190,000, made a copy called Hahn, configured with the back on the left or right, that the Room & Board website sells for 1,899. In 2010, throw pillows were part of a makeover of a bachelor's apartment. Also this year, House Beautiful magazine’s marketing department, which gave away 40 blue chairs to tie in with their March 2010 issue on the color blue, chose a midcentury silhouette blue velvet chair sold by Room & Board as one of its more substantial offerings. "It's so nice," said Nichole Rallis, an opera singer and student of music who found the chair near Astor Place in Manhattan.

External link

 * Corporate website

Category:Retail companies established in 1980 Category:Home decor retailers Category:Furniture retailers Category:Retail companies of the United States Category:Companies based in Minnesota Category:Online retail companies of the United States Category:Hennepin County, Minnesota