Former NY Rep Stanley Rosenberg Dies At 91

Furniture World Magazine

The Greater New York Home Furnishings Association announced that Stanley Rosenberg, a long-time member of the GNYHFA board of directors has passed away at the age of 91. Mr. Rosenberg was formerly a representative with Bassett Furniture, an associate of David Druckman, and a sales representative for Vaughn-Bassett. He is survived by his wife of 61years, his daughters Debbie and Gail, and GNYHFA / MFA members Yoav Meron and Mark Sample and many grandchildren. The article below written by Stanley Rosenberg recounts the history of the joining of the furniture retail and rep associations in the NY trading area. “How Two Become One” By Stanley Rosenberg Past President of the F.M.R. of NY Many markets ago, at least 200, there were two furniture associations in the city of New York, which I included the five boroughs, Long Island and Westchester. One was the Home Furnishings Association (H.F.A.). The other was the Furniture Manufacturers Representatives (F.M.R.) The H.F.A. had about one hundred retailers, retail salesmen, store owners, and offices of various retail associations. Their meeting place was a room at the Pennsylvania Hotel, located across the street from the Pennsylvania Railroad station on Seventh Avenue. Their meeting room was a room on the balcony of the hotel. However the many members of the F.M.R. would meet there with retailers to discuss business and socialize. It was here that the H.F.A. held their monthly meetings to discuss problems that they had with manufacturers as to distribution, as to freight rates, as to the state government having retailers hold deposits in escrow. At his time the furniture industry was well represented by a large number of retailers where are they today? IE, Sachs with ten stores, Ludwig Bauman with ten stores, Spear with ten stores, Selinger with eight stores, C. Ludwig Bauman with eleven stores, J. Michaels with tens stores and the list went on. In addition to the large department stores like Macy’s, Gimbel's, Abraham Strauss, all with large furniture departments. The buyers of all these stores attended two furniture shows in New York at what was then 206 Lexington Avenue and two in Chicago. Because the Chicago show was held at the two worst weather wise weeks of the year (the first week in January and the first week in July), and furthermore due to the big store buyers wanting to get a jump on the others in the industry they started to visit the factories in the south a week to ten days prior to the actual furniture dates. As the popularity in it grew, the attendance in Chicago dropped to where it became meaningless to go to Chicago. The southern factories did everything to increase the popularity of the southern market, hence where the buyers went, the salesmen followed. Meanwhile, F.M.R. held their meetings at 200 Lexington Avenue. They too held their meetings once a month. They discussed not only distribution but most importantly credit for the various furniture stores. They exchanged information as to who is G.O.B., who is new, who is a nice guy, etc. At this time there existed a tradition that Fridays salesmen were in their spaces where Buyers could come and place or cancel or change orders and conduct business instead of calling and speaking to Factories. It was just like having a Market every Friday. The day ended with the Retailers and Salesmen sojourning to a bar for drinks and or dinner. When and how this started I have never been able to track down, but it sure helped to have an eyeball meeting instead of by letter or telephone. As the years went by, more and more retailers went out of business due to over competition. For example, from 116th Street and Third Avenue to 125th Street and then West to Eighth Avenue were 121 Retailers. On Rockaway Avenue from Eastern Parkway to Pitkin Avenue were about 40 stores. Each retailer standing in the doorway looking for customers, as more and more retailers closed up, it resulted in fewer numbers I the H.F.A. and fewer numbers in the F.M.R. It got to the point where a few of us felt something had to be done for the survival of some kind of furniture association. WE, of the F.M.R. approached the New Jersey F.M.R. as they were having the same membership problems on their side of the river as we were. They turned as down for various “political” reasons. We then approached the H.F.A. with a suggestion that we merge the two into one. It took a lot of persuasion on a small group of us to convince both organizations that it must take place or they will none. The F.M.R. was able to convince the H.F.A that it would not be demeaning for retailers to associate with wholesalers and instead of giving away secrets of both we could be helpful to each other and so it came to pass, two became one.