Staff — Kids Today
Our celebration of juvenile/youth companies that span generations continues this month with a glimpse of retailers Lullaby Lane and the Juvenile Shop and manufacturers Berg Furniture and Best Chairs.

In 1947, the store’s product mix was focused on baby and included children’s apparel to size 14 and more toys than it does today. There was one employee.


Today the business is still located on the same block but there are three buildings comprised of 20,000 square feet of retail space — baby and the online store, including the gift registry, represent 60% of the business; kids, 20%; and a clearance center, 20%. Harold and Rosalie’s son and daughter, Barry Gevertz and Debbie Gevertz-Licolli are running the business, though Rosalie works about four to five days a week and Harold comes in on the weekends.

“The business didn’t really start taking off until the late 1970s,” Barry said. “It was around that time that the department stores started getting out of the baby furniture business. We’re a full-service store with merchandise you can’t find in the big boxes.”

Barry and Debbie never really planned on being retailers. Barry was a CPA before he joined the business in the late 1970s and Debbie was an occupational therapist before she came to work in the mid 1980s. Barry says the fact that neither of them had to join the business is definitely a pro to working with family.

“We wanted to do this, we weren’t forced into it,” he said.

Lullaby Lane now has close to 50 employees and customer education, implemented by the second generation, is an important part of the business.

“Our parents were great at merchandising and selling,” Barry said. “But we had to build an organization because the business had grown. Initially we were just baby but now we have two additional businesses — the kids furniture store and the clearance center.”

Because of his background, Barry handles the financial and operational aspects of running the stores and Debbie is the buyer.

“I’m the head and she’s the heart of the business,” he said.

Barry says another benefit to working in the family business is the relationship he and his siblings have with their parents.

“It’s more of a partnership instead of a parent/child relationship,” he said. “That’s why we stayed in the business. We don’t hear ‘We tried that 20 years ago and it didn’t work.’ Our parents have always been open to trying new things and didn’t put us down because we were younger. They’re smart, they have good ideas and they’re still passionate about the business.”

As for the next generation, Barry and Debbie are not necessarily grooming their kids to take over the family store, but some members of the Gevertz third generation do work part time.

“Neither Debbie or I thought we’d be in this business,” Barry said. “We want the next generation to do what makes them happy but working in the store part time does give them skills and experiences that are valuable regardless of what path they choose. It’s good for kids to see where their parents work and to understand what they do.”

“In 1964, my father, who has nothing to do with the business, saw an ad in the Wall Street Journal about the Juvenile Shop in Los Angeles” said Lauren Logan, the third generation owner of the Juvenile Shop. “He told my grandfather, Robert Levinson, it would be a good idea to buy it and that’s how we got into the juvenile business.”

The original store was started in 1939. Robert, his daughter (Lauren’s mother) Sharyn Sanders and his son, Mark Levinson bought another location in Sherman Oaks in 1977 and closed the L.A. store a week before the 1992 riots.

“In 1979 I was working at a store called Joseph Magnums and it was going out of business,” Lauren said. “I told my Mom I’d come to work in the store for the summer — that was 30 years ago.”

Lauren’s grandfather, who oversaw everything, had pretty much retired by the time she came into the business. Sharyn, who’s been retired for about 12 years, ran the back end and handled all of the administration business. Mark, who’s been retired 20 years, was involved in every aspect from buying to selling. Mark’s daughter, Anna, joined the business four years ago and she’s currently the top sales person in the store and is learning the business.

Lauren plays all roles and relies heavily on her manager, Lisa Cook, who’s been with the Juvenile Shop since 1981.

The business is actually two stores, The Juvenile Shop and The Juvenile Shop Grows Up, dedicated to infant and youth, respectively. The store has changed a bit since it’s inception almost 70 years ago.

“Some things are exactly the same but the product has certainly evolved,” Lauren said. “There are so many more vendors and resources today. Plus, our consumers come in highly educated. We feel so fortunate to have such a great client base and we’re now working with second and even third generation customers.”

Lauren said when she and her mom were partners they worked very well together. Her uncle taught her how to shop the markets and do the buying but she says the biggest thing her mom did for her when she retired on her 65th birthday was to totally leave the business. The business evolved after that.

“She was totally about the nuts and bolts product and after she retired we took the store to a new level and started buying for a higher end clientele,” Lauren said. “Mom never would have carried a $150 blanket. We really got to know who our customers were and took our product assortment from Simmons to Morigeau Lepine.”

Lauren says her biggest goal is to evolve the store and keep it on the forefront of what’s going on in the industry. She wants to keep up with the Internet and keep a step ahead of how new consumers are shopping.

Berg Furniture’s Almog Lieber (right) said that working with his dad, Aharon, has been a satisfying expreince.
Berg Furniture was started in 1984 by Aharon and Zahava Lieber and their middle son, Ofir. The company designs, manufactures and markets contemporary baby and youth furniture. Having outgrown its original facility twice, Berg Furniture is now located in a 145,000-square-foot manufacturing and warehousing facility, in Barrington, N.J.

Aharon brought 35 years of experience in the furniture business to his company. He had worked in one of the major wood manufacturers in Israel and attended the Technion, a prestigious engineering university, before moving to the U.S. Acquiring his industrial furniture design skills enabled him to establish a successful company.

Five years after the company started, Almog, the Lieber’s eldest son, joined the business. Aharon is the president of Berg and oversees production and the financial side of the business. Almog is the vice president of marketing and is responsible for the marketing, sales and office staff. Ofir left the company to pursue his personal dreams back in Israel.

Recognizing the importance of product innovation, Aharon and Almog work together to develop ideas.

“It’s not uncommon for people to witness a loud dinner debate over a napkin sketch and two weeks later our first prototype is produced,” Almog said. “Obviously family relationships provide some workplace challenges and we need to practice the art of compromise. The huge advantage of having a strong sense of responsibility as a family member is sometimes an obstacle — we like to see things done our way. However working with family members supporting and trusting each other gives great satisfaction.”

During the first few years the company focused on marketing one or two designs to the metropolitan New York area and along the East coast. Today Berg services the entire U.S. including Hawaii and Puerto Rico as well as select international accounts and its product offering has grown considerably.

Berg is constantly renewing and improving its machinery and implementing the latest state of the art technology.

“We’ve grown from five employees to supporting 80 families today,” Almog said. “We are targeting the general furniture stores in addition to the children’s specialty stores.”

With nearly 25 years of business under their belts, the Liebers are looking toward the future and the next generation.

Almog’s children already are already involved in the business.

“Obviously, photographing children’s furniture requires models and both my kids have appeared in many of our catalog pictures,” Almog said. “Avigayil, who’s 16 years old, already shows some interest in the design of the furniture and has taken drafting classes in school. Tamir is too young right now, but, you never know.”

“It will be nice to see the grandchildren getting involved in the business,” Aharon said.

“As business becomes more and more complicated and the overseas competition floods the market with low-priced products, we are emphasizing our unique designs, high quality, exceptional service and on time deliveries,” Almog said. “We are choosing a few overseas manufacturing partners very carefully and still rely mainly on our own New Jersey factory.”

Almog says Berg’s goal is to partner with reliable retailers and develop long-term business relationships.

“We feel that manufacturing in the U.S. is still relevant and will be more and more appreciated by the American consumer,” he said. “We would like to see Berg Furniture as a home to many more employees and growing through to the next generation.”
Best Chairs

Best Chairs was founded in Ferdinand, Ind., in 1962 by Clem Lange and his partners with the basic principle of building the best quality products at the most affordable price.

Best Chairs is run by the Lange family. Mary and Clem (standing in rear) and their children (front from left) Brian, Glen, Joey and Sheila Wendholt.
The company established itself as a leading swivel rocker manufacturer in the 1970s and 1980s, and since then the product line has grown to include an assortment of chairs, recliners, glide rockers, office chairs and sofas. Total sales for 2013 reached $230 million and Best now employs just over 1,000 people. Within the juvenile industry, Best offers upholstered gliders, wooden glide rockers and the fastest growing segment, gliding recliners.

Forty-five years after founding the company, Clem now sits on the board of directors. His eldest son, Glenn, is the CEO; sons Brian and Joey are president and vice president of operations, respectively; and daughter Sheila Wendholt is the vice president of public relations.

Deciding who would play which role in the company was more of an evolution based on responsibilities. As with most family businesses, the next generation can’t help but grow up being involved in one way or another.

“We each worked different jobs throughout the company such as sewing, upholstering, working in research and development, payroll and order entry,” Brian said. “As the need arose for someone to step up and take on a responsibility, one of us did just that.”

Brian says the family members share the same manufacturing and managerial philosophies, which has helped them change with the times. Working with family members can be challenging, but Brian says the only downside he can think of is that family time away from work always results in talking about the business.

“At the same time, this could be viewed as a positive,” he said. “It seems as though many of our good discussions and ultimate decisions were based on conversations outside of work. It is a real plus that we are a close-knit family, get along great and share common interests and hobbies outside of work. Because we are so close, we can be as open as we want about our thoughts and feelings towards the business and we don’t have to hold anything back when expressing our opinions.”

Though members of the third generation of Langes are either in elementary or high school, one member has graduated college and joined the family business. Some of the older grandchildren do work in the business as summer help.

“While they all have complete freedom to pursue the careers that suit their interests and dreams, it would be ideal for them to play a part in the future growth of our business,” Brian said. “Regardless, the foundation of our company’s philosophy is strong and will prosper for many years to come.”