Banner Mattress and Furniture Company continues to expand its manufacturing and retail business in the Toledo area, despite the current economic conditions.

Phil Frost and Bard Strand

“We’re very proud to manufacture and sell mattresses here in Toledo for nearly 80 years,” said Matthew Karp, president of the family-owned business. “The great thing about Banner is the longevity of our employees. Without the effort and loyalty of our people, we wouldn’t be where we are today. It’s a team effort.”

He is the third generation of the Karp family involved in the mattress business following his father Myron and grandfather Simon. Banner Mattress was founded in 1929 by the Scorziell family.

Simon operated the Leader Department Store when he became involved in Banner Mattress with the Scorziells. His son Myron worked with them and helped to open the first retail store on Monroe Street between Auburn and Detroit, which recently closed.

Myron became sole owner of the company in the 1960s and continued to manufacture and sell mattresses. The company will celebrate 80 years in business next year.

“We plan to continue that tradition with plans to expand from four to 16 stores in the next five years,” said Matthew, who grew up around the family business.

The company currently operates a manufacturing plant, warehouses and four stores in Toledo, including the new bedding superstore at 5200 Monroe St., and bedding and furniture superstores on Alexis Road, Hill and Navarre avenues with a total of about 100 employees.

Banner plans to open its fifth store in Perrysburg this fall, but no date has been set, according to Bard Strand, vice president of sales. The company also plans to open a sixth store in the spring at an undisclosed location.

“It’s a good time to expand and support the community and our long-term employees,” said Strand, who joined the company four years ago after a long career in the retail furniture business.

In 2007, Banner produced more than 11,500 handmade mattresses in 29 different models that were sold in its local stores.

“Banner mattresses are made by and for people who live in the area with those dollars staying in the community,” said Chris Frybarger of Toledo, factory operations manager who celebrated 30 years with the company in July.

Frybarger began working in the factory at age 15 cleaning and sweeping floors.

“I like my job working with my hands, designing all the mattresses, ordering materials, and supervising the seven-man production crew,” Frybarger said.

Frank Duran of Temperance, Mich. has worked at Banner for 40 years. He began making mattresses in the factory, supervised the warehouse and got an opportunity to go into sales in 1980.

“My experience came from working with one of the best furniture buyers in the business, Myron Karp. He was a kind man who taught me a lot about buying and selling furniture,” Duran said.

Today, Duran is the accessory buyer and creates print advertising, while still working in sales at the Alexis Road store. Banner develops all of its own advertising in-house, Strand said.

Banner recently closed its original store on Monroe Street when it no longer was feasible to keep it open. The shopping patterns changed and shoppers were not as eager to visit that store with the malls and shopping centers in other parts of town.

“We tried to continue to operate that store as long as we could, but it just didn’t work,” Karp said. “No one lost their job due to the store closing. We found ways to make it work and keep everyone employed.”

The Karp family wanted to make sure that site remained useful to the community so it entered into a partnership with the Cherry Street Mission. That organization will operate a new LifeBridge Center and the Banner Mattress Furniture Bank there.

The initial plans for the multi-purpose center include a drop-in community, education and training center, expanding Cherry Street’s gift-in-kind department and a community-wide furniture bank.

Cherry Street President and CEO Dan Rogers thanked the Karp family for its generosity  at a recent ceremony.

The furniture bank is part of a national outreach program to provide furniture to families in need. The company plans to donate furniture to the bank which is expected to open at the beginning of 2009, Karp said.

“My father personally supported the Cherry Street Mission among other community charities. We all had a strong emotional attachment to the building and simply couldn’t bear to see it fall into disuse,” Karp said.

For information, visit www.bannermattress.com.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 24th, 2008 at 1:34 am and is filed under Retail, Toledo Business Link.
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