When a man named began selling inexpensive reproductions of 18th and 19th Century traditional English furniture. He advertised his mahogany-finished butler''s tables and nightstands in magazines, then shipped the unassembled items to customers, who put them together in their homes. The name was idea. He associated the most glorious days of the British Empire with India, and its crown jewel, the city of . He hoped everyone would make the connection. They didn''t but that was the least of his problems. In 1978 was strictly mail-order. Sales totaled $1.5 million, and the company was losing money.A New Direction Then along came Canadian Robert who found out about the company and was impressed by the quality of the products and the reasonable prices.purchased the rights to develop The Company in Canada, which included access to the overseas supply channels Harper had established, mainly in Taiwan. Back in Toronto, decided to put ''s products into small stores in shopping malls. He believed the concept would attract "impulse shoppers" looking for an attractive product at a very good value.

And because unassembled furniture took up so little space, the company didn''t need a lot of extra storage room. ''s ready-to-assemble furniture also provided immediate gratification: customers could walk out with what they wanted rather than wait weeks for delivery. In April 1980, he opened his first store with 35 styles of furniture. The pieces of the puzzle were all coming together. Sales in Canada were strong and soon needed more capital for inventory and expansion. At the same time, in the United States, Mr. Harper was negotiating and ultimately sold his mail-order business to Tandy Brands, Inc., a holding company in Fort Worth, Texas. Tandy Brands coincidentally also felt the ready-to-assemble furniture concept was a potential retail store homerun and opened its first two stores in 1980 followed by a handful of additional stores to test various markets. Realizing the huge potential of the concept, Tandy Brands wanted to own the concept for all of North America and, in 1981, bought the Canadian rights from with continuing to manage the Canadian operation.recipe for success was convenience, value and fashion.

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