La-Z-Boy Incorporated (‘La-Z-Boy’) produces reclining chairs and manufactures/distributes residential furniture in the United States.
The La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores retail network is the third largest retailer of single-branded furniture in the United States. The company manufactures, markets, imports, exports, distributes, and retails upholstery furniture products under the La-Z-Boy, England, Kincaid, and Joybird tradenames. In addition, the company imports, distributes, and retails a...
La-Z-Boy Incorporated (‘La-Z-Boy’) produces reclining chairs and manufactures/distributes residential furniture in the United States.
The La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores retail network is the third largest retailer of single-branded furniture in the United States. The company manufactures, markets, imports, exports, distributes, and retails upholstery furniture products under the La-Z-Boy, England, Kincaid, and Joybird tradenames. In addition, the company imports, distributes, and retails accessories and casegoods (wood) furniture products under the Kincaid, American Drew, Hammary, and Joybird tradenames.
As of April 26, 2025, the company’s supply chain operations included the following:
Five major manufacturing locations, and 15 distribution centers in the United States, and three facilities in Mexico to support the company’s speed-to-market and customization strategy.
A logistics company that distributes a portion of the company’s products in the United States.
An upholstery manufacturing business in the United Kingdom, and a wholesale sales office that is responsible for distribution of the company’s products in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
A global trading company in Hong Kong that helps the company manage its Asian supply chain by establishing and maintaining relationships with its Asian suppliers, as well as identifying efficiencies and savings opportunities.
The company also participates in two consolidated joint ventures in Thailand that support its international businesses: one that operates a manufacturing facility, and another that operates a wholesale sales office. Additionally, the company has contracts with several suppliers in Asia to produce products that support its pure import model for casegoods.
The company sells its products through multiple channels: to furniture retailers or distributors in the United States, Canada, and approximately 50 other countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, China, and New Zealand; directly to consumers through retail stores that it owns and operates; and through its websites, www.la-z-boy.com and www.joybird.com.
The centerpiece of the company’s retail distribution strategy is its network of various La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores, over 500 La-Z-Boy Comfort Studio locations, and over 500 La-Z-Boy branded space locations, each dedicated to marketing its La-Z-Boy branded products.
La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores help consumers furnish their homes by combining the style, comfort, and quality of La-Z-Boy furniture with its available design services. The company owns various La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores, while the remainder are independently owned and operated.
La-Z-Boy Comfort Studio locations are defined spaces within larger independent retailers that are dedicated to displaying and selling La-Z-Boy branded products, while La-Z-Boy branded space locations display a curated selection of La-Z-Boy branded products within larger independent dealers. All La-Z-Boy Comfort Studio locations and La-Z-Boy branded space locations are independently owned and operated.
In total, the company has approximately 7.7 million square feet of proprietary floor space dedicated to selling La-Z-Boy branded products in North America within its La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores and La-Z-Boy Comfort Studio locations.
The company also has approximately 2.6 million square feet of floor space outside of the United States and Canada dedicated to selling La-Z-Boy branded products.
The company’s other brands, England, American Drew, Hammary, and Kincaid enjoy distribution through many of the same outlets, with over half of Hammary’s sales originating through the La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries store network.
Kincaid and England have their own dedicated proprietary in-store programs with outlets, and approximately 1.9 million square feet of proprietary floor space.
Joybird sells products primarily online, and has various small-format stores in key urban markets.
Principal Products and Industry Segments
The company’s reportable operating segments include the Retail segment and the Wholesale segment. The company’s Retail segment primarily sells upholstered furniture, in addition to some casegoods and other home furnishing accessories, to end consumers through its company-owned La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores. The company’s Wholesale segment manufactures and imports upholstered and casegoods (wood) furniture, and sells directly to La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores, operators of La-Z-Boy Comfort Studio locations, branded space locations, England Custom Comfort Center locations, major dealers, and a wide cross-section of other independent retailers.
Seasonal Business
The company’s business has historically displayed seasonal patterns driven by consumer behavior, with demand highest in the winter months, as discretionary spending tends to shift toward travel and leisure activities during the summer months. For the company’s wholesale business, its fiscal fourth quarter (year ended April 26, 2025) has historically had the highest volume of delivered sales relative to other quarters. For its retail businesses, which include its company-owned retail stores, its fiscal third and fourth quarters typically have the highest volume of delivered sales relative to other quarters.
In a typical year, the company schedules production to maintain consistent manufacturing activity throughout the year whenever possible. During the summer months, the furniture industry generally experiences weaker demand, and as such, the company typically shuts down its domestic plants for one week each fiscal year to perform routine maintenance on its equipment. Accordingly, for the company’s wholesale business, the first quarter is usually the company's weakest quarter in terms of sales and earnings. Also driven by the seasonal slowdown in the summer, each of its retail businesses typically experience their lowest sales in its fiscal first quarter.
During fiscal 2025, the company experienced its largest sales in the fourth quarter for both its wholesale and retail businesses.
Customers
The company sells directly to end consumers through its company-owned La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores that make up its Retail segment, its small-format Joybird stores, and its websites, www.la-z-boy.com and www.joybird.com. Sales in the company’s Wholesale segment are primarily to third-party furniture retailers, which also include independently-owned La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries. While mainly located throughout the United States and Canada, the company also has customers located in various other countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, China, and New Zealand.
The company has formal agreements with many furniture retailers for them to display and merchandise products from one or more of its operating units, and sell them to consumers in dedicated retail space, either in stand-alone stores or dedicated proprietary galleries, or La-Z-Boy Comfort Studio locations within their stores. The company considers this dedicated space to be ‘proprietary.’ In addition, the company displays a curated selection of La-Z-Boy branded products within larger independent dealers, designated as La-Z-Boy branded spaces. For the company’s Wholesale segment, its fiscal 2025 customer mix based on sales was approximately 60% proprietary, 10% major dealers (large, regional retailers), and 30% other independent retailers.
Independent dealers for the company’s proprietary La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries store network provide distribution in specific geographical areas, and enable the company to concentrate its marketing to a dedicated product line across the entire network, benefitting La-Z-Boy, these dealers, and its consumers. It also allows dealers in this proprietary group to take advantage of best practices, with which other proprietary dealers have succeeded, and the company facilitates forums for these dealers to share them. These La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores provide the company’s consumers a full-service shopping experience with a large variety of products, knowledgeable sales associates, and design service consultants.
Trademarks, Licenses, and Patents
The company owns the La-Z-Boy trademark, which is essential to the Wholesale and Retail segments of its business. The company also owns the Joybird trademark, which, along with the La-Z-Boy trademark, is essential to the company’s e-commerce business. Additionally, the company owns a number of other trademarks that it utilizes in marketing its products. The company considers its La-Z-Boy trademark to be among its most valuable assets, and it has registered that trademark and others in the United States and various other countries where its products are sold. These trademarks have a perpetual life, subject to renewal. The company licenses the use of the La-Z-Boy trademark to certain international partners and dealers outside of North America. The company also licenses the use of the La-Z-Boy trademark on contract office furniture, outdoor furniture, furniture for recreational vehicles, and certain non-furniture products, as these arrangements enhance its brand awareness, broaden the perceptions of La-Z-Boy, and create visibility of the La-Z-Boy brand in channels outside of the residential furniture industry. In addition, the company licenses to its branded dealers the right to use its La-Z-Boy trademark in connection with the sale of its products and related services, on their signs, and in other ways, which the company considers to be a key part of its marketing strategies. The company provides more information about those dealers under ‘Customers.’
The company holds a number of United States and foreign patents that it actively enforces. The company has followed a policy of filing patent applications for the United States and select foreign countries on inventions, designs, and improvements that it deems valuable, but these patents do expire at various times.
Safety and Health
The company works to forge relationships with agencies, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), to understand how it can best adhere to health and safety practices.
Research and Development Costs
Expenditures for the company’s research and development costs were $9.9 million for the fiscal year ended April 26, 2025.
History
The company was founded in 1927. It was incorporated in the state of Michigan in 1941. The company was formerly known as La-Z-Boy Chair Company and changed its name to La-Z-Boy Incorporated in 1996.