Sam Moore - History

		America's Premier Chair Manufacturer
Sam Moore Company History	Home

Sam Moore graduated from Washington & Lee University in 1918 and enlisted in the Army Air Force in WWI. He trained in bi-planes with long white silk scarves trailing behind. Sam's father owned a furniture store in Monessen, Pennsylvania. A common combination in those days was furniture dealer/undertaker since the furniture store usually had one or two cabinet makers who could also make caskets. After the war Sam returned to Monessen and then went to the Cincinnati School of Embalming preparing to go into the family business. However, he quickly realized that being an undertaker was not for him.

Sam always admired the furniture reps who called on his dad and since he enjoyed people and was a born salesman he decided to try furniture repping. In his late 20's he had a chance to get 2 furniture lines. His first territory was Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.

After about 8 years he decided he could make a better chair and sell it for less money than the line he was selling, so he resigned and with 4 friends bought the Delaware Chair Company in Delaware, Ohio for $15,000. This was in 1940. One of his partners was the advance man for Ringling Brothers/Barnum and Bailey Circus. It was a small plant, far from his suppliers and when World War II was looming he found himself in the midst of defense plants with federal contracts and rising costs. Wage scales exploded and soon he could not compete.

In early 1943 he found a vacant overall factory in Christiansburg, Virginia and pulled up stakes and moved south. Sam Moore Chair was born and the original Sam Moore Chair soon became an icon in our industry. It was a channel back, barrel chair with a solid mahogany frame which retailed for $39. "Double truck" ads were common, with Western Stickley tables on one side and Sam Moore Chairs on the other and a big $39 in the middle of the page. Macy's New York or Wannamakers in Philadelphia did not consider it a successful furniture sale unless police had to be stationed at the elevators and people could get off on the furniture floor m if an identical number got on the elevator. For years Sam Moore was the leading promotional chair resource in America. The company made 12 styles. They could all be cut from the same cutting pattern and were sold in car loads only-305 pieces to the car .Best estimates are that somewhere between 3 and 4 million of those chairs were sold between 1943 and 1973.

When the Korean War began in 1950 the Army activated an old arsenal 10 miles from Christiansburg and Sam came to the office one day and found all of his employees gone -they were applying for jobs at the defense plant. It was Delaware, Ohio allover again. He heard of an old chair plant in Greenville, Tennessee and bought it on credit in order to survive.

In 1959, with 3 old, multi-storied almost obsolete factories, the company began combining our production facilities into one modern factory. The first plant at our present location was 42,000 sq. ft. and we moved into it in 1960. We have since expanded it 12 times and it now totals about 300,000 sq. ft. Our latest addition, a 24,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art finishing room was completed in 1999 giving us one of the largest, most modern occasional chair plants in the nation.

We are the only company in Bedford and, perhaps, the only upholstery company in our industry that has not had a single long term layoff in the last 32 years!

In April, 1998 we became part of the best known brand name company in our industry.

In April, 2007 Hooker Furniture Company acquired Sam Moore as part of a strategic goal to further diversify into fabric upholstery. In combination with sister company Bradington-Young; we will help Hooker Furniture grow its footprint in the upholstery sector and strengthen business with the designer distribution channel.