On November 14, 2018, it was reported, after more than 30 years with the company, Zev Fredman has been named president, Glideaway Bed Carriage Mfg. Co., a producer of a wide range of sleep products. Fredman's appointment leads a number of key organizational changes the veteran sleep products manufacturer has recently made, as it looks ahead to future growth. Having served as president for the past 15 years, Carmi Fredman will transition to the role of vice president, and his primary focus will be on sales strategy. Elan Fredman, controller for the past two years, will assume the role of chief financial officer.
On November 14, 2018, it was reported, Upholstery manufacturer Washington Furniture resumed production Oct. 23, less than a month after a September fire that consumed a warehouse and damaged production lines. Lyle Harris, CEO of Washington Furniture parent company Behold Home, told Furniture Today that production has reached pre-fire levels. In addition to seven lines currently running in a 225,000-square-foot onsite facility that had been used for warehousing, the Behold Home factory in Smithville, Miss., also has added a line to support Washington Furniture production. Plans call to expand the Smithville plant to accommodate production growth for both Behold Home and Washington Furniture. For warehousing, Washington Furniture right now is leasing a 125,000-square-foot facility owned by Washington Furniture founder Gerald Washington and an additional 75,000 square feet of warehouse space in Tupelo, with an option for more space as needed. In addition to new corporate offices, Washington soon will begin construction of a 400,000-square-foot warehouse on the footprint of the building that was destroyed in the original fire. In addition to new production and warehouse facilities, Washington is upgrading its fire prevention and security systems to provide round-the-clock protection. Harris said Washington had been on a strong growth track before the fire, but that customers and employees had shown excellent support. "We're back equal to pre-fire capacity, but since we lost our finished product inventory, we've been working overtime and Saturdays," he added. The fire on Sept. 26 destroyed a finished goods warehouse, and a re-ignition the following day damaged 350,000 square feet of production space. The fire, which investigators determined was
On November 13, 2018, it was reported, McRoskey Mattress has named company veteran Vanessa Contreras president. Contreras, part of McRoskey's management team since 2007, is the first non-family member to lead day-to-day operations of the long-time factory-direct operator in its almost 120-year history. She will oversee all operations of the business. Contreras reports to Robin Azevedo, the granddaughter of co-founder Edward McRoskey, who is CEO and brand ambassador. Azevedo was president of McRoskey until the recent sale of the manufacturing, marketing and national distribution rights for the brand to Fresno, Calif.-based Pleasant Mattress. "Vanessa and I have worked together for more than a decade," said Azevedo. "She is laser-focused and understands the heritage of the brand and its importance in the community. There's no better person to lead the company through this transition and into the next phase of our retail growth." Contreras joined McRoskey Mattress in 2007 as human resourced director. She was promoted to director of human resources and manufacturing in 2012 and was named vice president of human resources and manufacturing two years later. Earlier, she spent nearly 17 years in various management posts at cleaning contractor PWC Hawaii, Levi Strauss and the Hotel Durant in Berkley, Calif. "McRoskey is a San Francisco institution and I am honored to have been chosen to lead our operations going forward," Contreras said. "Robin has been a great mentor of the brand and we have a terrific management team and a sales team that will help us grow the business in the years to come. Our consumer-driven culture and unique product story make the brand stand out in a crowded mattress retail space, and that will continue to drive our
On November 08, 2018, it was reported, past deals that Sears Holdings has made with its chairman and former CEO, Eddie Lampert, are under scrutiny in the retailer's Chapter 11 case, with a group of creditors alleging several transactions in recent years were self-serving, fraudulent and represented a breach of fiduciary duty. A committee of unsecured creditors Tuesday asked for court permission to examine those transactions between Sears and Lampert, as well as his hedge fund, ESL Investments, and related parties, according to court papers. Those deals include various loans that ESL has made to Sears in the past year and a half; the spinoff of more than 200 properties into Seritage Growth Properties (which Lampert chairs and partly owns); the spinoff of Lands' End and Sears Hometown; and the sale of Sears' stake in Sears Canada, which liquidated last year. The creditors also said they plan to file an objection to Sears' plans to sell its remaining profitable stores in bankruptcy. In a court document, the creditor group described the plan as apparently organized to allow ESL to buy "material assets of [Sears] at deflated prices (potentially by an inappropriate credit bid)." A Sears spokesperson did not immediately reply to Retail Dive's request for comment.
