Ashley HomeStore history

In 1945, Carlyle Weinberger started Ashley Furniture in Chicago as a sales operation specializing in tables and wall systems.

In 1970, Ashley invested in the Wisconsin-based Arcadia Furniture, founded by T. Brosseau.

Even though Arcadia started out as a small production plant for Ashley's lines in 1976, a group of investors bought out Weinberger, taking control of Ashley Furniture.

The firm spent $5.5 million in 1979 for a huge addition in Arcadia, enabling it to produce a more varied and sophisticated product line.

By 1982, the merged companys annual sales reached $12 million and it had moved its corporate headquarters from Chicago to Arcadia.

Although the same article describes the furniture industry as a whole at that time as 'sleepy,' Wanek took notice, and in 1984 he traveled to Taiwan to investigate.

Sales had climbed to more than $44 million by 1985.

A more significant innovation came in 1986, when Ashley introduced its 'Millennium' line.

In 1993 the company introduced a line of so-called motion furniture--tables with tops and shelves that slide or elevate, beds with nightstands sliding on tracks along each side or heads that moved up to make it more comfortable to watch television.

In another major move, Ashley began a new upholstered furniture line in 1994.

In 1998, Ashley brought in approximately $652 million.

Gambling that motion furniture was a strong growth area, Ashley acquired Gentry Furniture, of Ripley, Mississippi in 1999.

By 2000, Ashley Furniture Industries employed more people in Arcadia than the town's population.

Under the leadership of Ron Wanek and Todd Wanek, Ashley’s President and CEO since 2002, the family-owned company continues to invest and grow in the United States to meet the evolving needs of customers in more than 123 countries across the globe.

The company generated more than $3.5 billion in revenue in 2012, more than any other United States furniture maker.

In 2015, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration imposed $1.7 million in fines on Ashley due to unsafe working conditions at its Arcadia plant which caused over one thousand injuries to workers.