Lyndon furniture exports to other kingdoms

Vermont Business Magazine, Jan 01, 2000 by Marcel, Joyce

David M Allard, founder and president of Lyndon Furniture, Inc. learned independence and selfmotivation at a young age on the farm where he grew up. He learned his career from a program at his high school. It's no wonder he named his thriving company after his home town.

"I got to raising cattle and making maple syrup at a really young age," Allard said. "A good high school program at the Lyndon Institute started me on furniture. They had a cabinet maker who had decided to quit making and start teaching. I learned it and enjoyed it and decided it was something I wanted to try."

Now Lyndon Furniture, also known as Lyndon Woodworking, Inc, is one of the fastest-growing companies in the state. It produces hand-crafted hardwood furniture that it sells wholesale in 35 states and three countries. The company grew 31 percent last year, going from sales of $6.2 million to sales of $8.2 million. It employs about 85 people in three locations.

And last year, when Allard's father died, he was able to use his woodworking skills to build him a casket.

"I built the casket out of a hard maple that his father, he and I had all tapped for syrup," Allard said. "Consequently, we've sold a few caskets locally, Actually, the families of some of my father's friends, who died after he did, bought them. He'd have been tickled."

Allard started his business in his parent's basement in 1979.

"I went to the woods and cut trees and built my first shop when I was 19," Allard said. "I started out doing local retail work like kitchen cabinets. The first piece of furniture was a hardwood table. Then I moved into selling to stores."

Then Allard opened a plant in Lyndon Corner.

"We added on to that seven times and kind of outgrew it," he said. "Then we made the decision that if we were going to keep up with the demand for our product, we needed to build a bigger facility. Fortunately, there was a nice lot in the local industrial plant, and we were able to acquire that. We started building in 1997. The first phase was 35,000-square-feet. We moved into it in September of 1998 and quickly filled it up. Then, about a year ago, we made the decision to add the second half, which we did this spring. That's about another 35,000square-feet. I have three plants now."

Furniture parts, chair parts and finishing are done at the Lyndon Corner plant.

"We sell a lot of chairs to go with our tables," Allard said. "Then I have another plant in North Concord, which once was a dance hall. We're actually doubling the size of that by adding another 10,000 feet. It will be completed early next year. At that plant we do case goods like buffets, hutches, chests of drawers, entertainment centers and home offices."

The furniture is designed in what Allard calls a "transitional style," meaning it runs the gamut from simple Shaker-style pieces through to contemporary.

"For a small company, we have a very large product line," Allard said. "One little niche we've been able to keep - we probably have 30 table styles. But we make 1,000 sizes. So if you see a table that's 42" x 72", but you want it 38" x 74", we can do it. It's pretty much handcrafted, hands-on work. We also offer four different wood species cherry, maple, oak and walnut."

The Vermont furniture industry is large and not well known inside the state, Allard said.

"One of Vermont's little secrets is that a lot of furniture is made here," he said. "People don't think of it as a furniture state, but when you start to think about it, it employs a lot of people, from cutting the logs to making furniture. Vermont has a unique style of furniture not made anywhere else in the country. Other than Ethan Allen, there are four or five companies that make Vermont furniture, like T Copeland and Sons in Bradford, and Vermont Tubbs in Brandon. We all make similar furniture, but we don't compete. Maybe we even sell to the same accounts."

As much as the Vermont cache helps to sell food products, it helps to sell furniture, Allard said.

"The Vermont name is starting to catch on, even overseas," he said. "I have an account in London, and I'm told they sell only Vermont-made furniture. Vermont is unique to the world. The price points are such that it's quality, they can ship it out of Montreal or Boston, and they can sell it.

The Northeast Kingdom is perceived as maybe a little more rural than it actually is, Allard said.

"My big plant right now is in an industrial park with other companies," he said. "But still, life here is a little for lack of a better word - simpler. People who work here generally like working with wood. I had a machinery supplier say, 'All you people up in the Kingdom figure out how to do things on your own.' That's quite a compliment. We don't go out and buy everything we need. We figure things out, and it makes the bottom line more efficient. For example, I generate a lot of my own power with diesel generators. We decided a long time ago that it was going to be more cost-effective to do it that way. And we burn sawdust, a waste product of ours, for heat."