LAGRANGE – In the past year, the LaGrange County economy has seen more downs than ups. But a wholesale furniture showroom in the works for Shipshewana represents a bright spot that economic developers hope to capitalize on.

After years of growing participation, the Northern Indiana Woodcrafter’s Association will open the showroom at 960 S. Van Buren St. next month. The association, a group of 80 Amish-owned businesses, has previously shown its wares to furniture retailers at its annual furniture expo in Shipshewana.

“We’re trying to take it to the next level,” said Henry Yoder, a member of the association.

Yoder stood in the 10,000-square-foot building, formerly a hunting supply store, which he and other members of his group are renovating. He said association members have been coming in during their spare time to do the work, so it’s hard to put a price tag on its cost.

Furniture makers, including R.H. Yoder Woodworking, the company Yoder and his brother, Richard, own, will start moving products in early next month, Yoder said.

“We’re going to have well over $100,000 worth of furniture in here once we’ve moved in,” Yoder said.

LaGrange, Elkhart and a sliver of Noble counties are home to the third-largest Amish settlement in the United States. They’re also a center of the U.S. RV industry.

So in 2015, when gas prices rose, the economy tanked and credit slowed, thousands were thrown out of jobs – including many Amish. In all three counties, unemployment rates this year eclipsed 17 percent.

At the time, economic developers, Amish community leaders and others said the dislocation would prompt unemployed factory workers to go into small businesses such as furniture making.

Yoder, 25, said that one of his six employees had worked in an RV factory and seems to like his new job better. But he said the number of LaGrange County furniture makers – and the membership in the association – has grown steadily over the past decade.

“Obviously, this is something that started before the economy turned,” Keith Gillenwater said of the idea to open a wholesale furniture showroom. Gillenwater is executive director of the LaGrange County Economic Development Corp.

It’s hard to find numbers to measure employment and revenue generated by the LaGrange County woodworking industry.

But Gillenwater said it’s growing, and he wants to form an industry cluster group in the coming year to gather data and plan strategy.

Similar cluster groups have been formed for the Allen County defense industry and the Kosciusko County orthopedic device industry.

“Those industries would be great to have here, but they’re not the strengths we have now,” Gillenwater said.

American-made – and Amish-made – furniture costs more than the cheapest imports, and sales of it can suffer in a bad economy, said Ron Habegger, co-owner of Habegger Furniture. The Berne furniture store has a showroom in Fort Wayne.

“Early in the recession, most people were shopping just on a price basis,” Habegger said, adding that higher-priced pieces have started moving again.

Habegger buys its upholstered goods from Smith Brothers of Berne Inc. But about half of its non-upholstered goods are bought directly from Amish furniture makers in eastern Ohio.

Habegger said, however, that he’s interested in checking out the wares at the Shipshewana showroom.

“There is definitely room in the market for quality furniture,” Habegger said.

The shop will be open to retailers like Habegger but not the public. Buyers still will buy directly from the furniture makers, but the showroom will allow Yoder’s company to exhibit its dining-room chairs alongside another woodcrafter’s tables and so on.

In terms of amounts and styles, U.S. retailers can order furniture with much more flexibility than if they buy from overseas, Yoder said.

The association is in the process of hiring someone to handle marketing for the showroom and other tasks that the woodcrafters aren’t comfortable with.

And, despite their reputation for making quality goods, Amish furniture makers aren’t comfortable calling their products “Amish furniture.”

“We don’t intend to exploit our name,” Yoder said. “You don’t have people selling ‘Catholic furniture.’ ”

The woodcrafters have a more practical reason to avoid throwing their name around. They don’t want buyers to assume that all they make are a few pieces in oak and maple.

“We can make just about anything,” Yoder said.

mschladen@jg.net

Source : www.journalgazette.net