Gary Evans –
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Comfort Designs, a high-end contemporary upholstery and metal furniture source, said it was shutting its doors after

34 years, citing the cost of raw materials, competition from imports and a flat business environment.

“I have decided to close the business and liquidate in an orderly manner before things get too far along and we have no moves left to us,” said Griff Keefer, the company’s president.

He said the company is talking with interested parties about the sales of assets.

Comfort Designs makes a well-known line of contemporary upholstery, but its profit model also included metal beds, dining and occasional furniture. The latter categories took a big hit in 2004 and 2012, when the escalating cost of steel forced Comfort to raise prices and reduce its metal line to a core of bestsellers, Keefer said. In doing so, he said, the company lost a number of major accounts.
 
“A flood of Asian imports have created wholesale/retail price devaluation in the major product categories we serve, while rapid commodity consumption driven by Asian expansion has driven raw material prices dramatically up,” he said.

“As though this was not challenge enough, the furniture retailing sector is in a classic consolidation process. Soft consumer demand combined with decreasing retail price points is causing a thinning of the ranks of U.S. retailers. It is a challenging market in which to operate,” Keefer said.

The company is maintaining reduced operations and is making every effort to fulfill existing orders, he said.