The Resurgence of American Manufacturing

From the mills of colonial New England, to the steel plants of the Midwest, manufacturing has long been a key component of the American economy. Unfortunately, the general trend since the middle of the twentieth century has been downward. After taking a particularly stiff drubbing during the so-called Great Recession, American manufacturing has finally started to show signs of improvement over the past couple of years.

What’s remarkable about Manchester Wood is that we started making solid wooden furniture during the mid 70’s, just as American manufacturing was entering its long slide and jobs were starting to be shipped to places like Mexico or Taiwan and later China. Despite the general trend of outsourcing, we remained committed to American made furniture.

The Hanover Media and Gaming Stand

One recent encouraging sign for the U.S. economy is a growing for enthusiasm American made products. A recent study indicated that more than of 80% of Americans are willing to spend additional money on an American product instead of paying less for a comparable foreign product. This is great news for us: instead of cheap, foreign, particle board coffee tables, solid wood American furniture is coming back into vogue. Furthermore, as people start to tire of their foreign-made furniture deteriorating and breaking due to poor workmanship or materials, they are realizing the sense in spending a bit more money on durable, quality furniture made in the U.S.A.

If you are interested in U.S.A. made furniture, check out our solid wood TV stands. These stands are designed to enhance your home entertainment setup while still preserving the traditional charm of solid wood furniture.

Not only is our furniture 100% made in the U.S.A., it is also green. All of our lumber comes from certified sustainable North American forests, so you can be sure that you are supporting the American economy without jeopardizing the environment.

2013 High Point Furniture Market April 20 to 25

We’re looking forward to attending the High Point Furniture Market in High Point, NC again this spring. Preparations are well under way as we get everything ready for the trip down to North Carolina. Our booth will be located at the M329A Pavilion in the International Home Furnishings Center (IHFC) Building. Please check out our complete exhibitor listing for further details.

Founded in 1909, High Point Market has grown into the world’s largest furnishings industry trade show. Covering 11.5 million square feet of show space in 180 buildings, the show attracts over 75,000 attendees and 2000 exhibitors to each market. With over 100 countries represented, serious retail home furnishings buyers make sure to attend because if you can’t find it at High Point, it probably doesn’t exist.

If you happen to be in the High Point area and looking for something to do or are already attending, please stop by and visit our booth! Connecting with customers, both new and old, is one of our favorite parts of the market. For further info, please see our press release below:

Press Release:  Manchester Wood Unveils Green Mountain Collection At High Point Market

Featured on ABC World News’ ‘Made in America’ with Diane Sawyer in 2011 for its continuing commitment to manufacturing in America, Manchester Wood has been designing and producing popular solid wood furniture pieces for leading home furnishing companies, including L.L. Bean, Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, Plow and Hearth, and Lands’ End, for over 35 years at their plant in the foothills of the Adirondacks of New York.

No Buyers Remorse with Manchester Wood

Our solid wood furniture is designed for quality so that you are not left regretting your purchase.

At Manchester Wood we pride ourselves on not making quality solid wood furniture instead of the cheap throwaway items you’ll find at most big box stores.  Sold by the truckloads, such throwaway furniture is typically destined for landfills not a few short years after they’re sold.

We design solid wood furniture made in America with a promise of heirloom quality that will last generations. Our care for the earth is shown in all our eco-friendly practices and socially conscious decisions.  In making our furniture, we only use locally harvested wood  that comes from forests, which incorporate observed reseeding plans to replenishing the timber and trees that we’ve  removed from our treasured forests.

Our customers are not reckless shoppers and likely due to this, we do not see many instances of  ‘buyers remorse,’ where customers regret their purchase from us. We’ve found that our intelligent consumers thoroughly investigate the options, observe the best finishes to meet their home, and ask thoughtful questions, which is the right approach when you are buying a furniture piece that will last a lifetime.

At Manchester Wood our promise is to provide you a quality product that is exactly as we represent it on our website and advertising.  If anything, our goal is to provide furniture pieces that go beyond satisfying customers with their quality.  We want to impress and inspire with our dedication to sold wood craftsmanship and quality.

 Manchester Wood designs and produces quality, affordable, eco-friendly solid wood American furniture in the Green Mountains of Vermont and Adirondack foothills of New York.

Made in the USA Homes: Constructing American Made

Homeowner Patrick Schutte (on left) stands with Alex de Parry of Ann Arbor Builders at the site of Schutte's new made in USA home. (Photo courtesy of AnnArbor.com)

At the end of last year, the Boston Consulting Group reported that 220,000 more new American jobs would be created if every builder in the country increased American-made products by 5 percent, and Janet Miller for AnnArbor.com wrote that such efforts are being made in the Ann Arbor, Michigan area.  This is a wonderful development as it takes a lot of different materials and products to build and furnish a home.  When these all products (or a high percentage of them) are made in the USA, that means more jobs for American workers and a robust economy.

Miller writes in her recent article, Made in the USA: Ann Arbor firm constructing homes with products made in America, that Ann Arbor Builders, a 40-year old construction company run by husband and wife Alex and Betsy de Parry are focusing on building homes primatily using  products and materials made in America.

Recently they collaborated with Patrick Schutte to build his dream home.  He wanted it to be all American-made. Shutte’s soon-to-be four-bedroom house “will be the first new project built under Ann Arbor Builders’ focus on using American-made goods. Except for the granite countertop, the microwave oven and the recessed lighting, everything will be made in America, down to the nails. Construction started in January, and the family expects to move in this summer… ‘If everyone did it, it would add up to be a pretty big thing,’ Betsy de Parry” told Miller for AnnArbor.com.

Schutte was persistent on making his house as “American” as possible, reaching approximately 95% made in America — no small task considering “[that] ‘a few items were impossible to find. All microwaves,’ Betsy de Parry said, are made in South Korea. There are no American-made recessed lights. And most granite comes from abroad, mostly from Brazil and Italy… ‘If a house doesn’t have a microwave, granite countertops or recessed lights, it can be 100 percent American-made,’ she said” (AnnArbor.com).  Hopefully, such products will be domestically produced in the future, but for the time building a house that is 95% American made is quite an accomplishment.

The project undertaken by Parry’s and Schutte also show us that with a small extra cost (only 3 to 5% more) you can construct not only a home made with products from your own community, but take a stand for social justice and civil empowerment. We hope that when Schutte and his family decide to purchase products for their new home they consider Manchester Wood for the best in American made furniture. From our unique coffee tables, end tables, cherry wood desks, and solid wood cabinets, these are just a few of our handmade manufactured goods that are 100% made in the USA.

To view the American Made furniture of Manchester Wood, click here.

To read this amazing article on the efforts of Made in USA homes, click here.

References

Miller, Janet. (2012, March 22). Made in the USA: Ann Arbor firm constructing homes with products made in America. AnnArbor.com. Retrieved from http://www.annarbor.com/business-review/ann-arbor-homebuilders-look-to-build-houses-with-products-made-in-america/

Manchester Wood announces collection “$64 Gifts for U.S. Jobs”

Manchester Wood Announces "$64 Gifts for U.S. Jobs"

A recent study by ABC World News with Diane Sawyer around the holiday season showed that if each person spent $64 dollars on Made in America items we would create 200,000 new American jobs (source). In support of this finding, Manchester Wood is offering an affordable and unique gift collection that allows you to bring home an heirloom quality American made product for only $64 dollars, which includes free shipping. This is a great opportunity to support the Made in USA cause, own a quality piece of furniture at a very affordable rate, practice conscious consumerism, and help create more American jobs.

The collection is currently offering a Lap Desk, Serving Tray, Tea Cup/Mug Stand, Folding Table, and Step Stool. All American made and entirely of solid Northeastern hardwood, milled and crafted in our manufacturing shop in Granville, New York.

View our new $64 Gifts for U.S. Jobs collection by clicking here, or read the product descriptions below for more info:

The Lap Desk is ideal for working while sitting in a chair or on the couch, perhaps upright in bed. It allows mobility, comfort, and an old-fashioned style using a laptop computer while also keeping harmful rays and unwanted heat away.

The Serving Tray offers someone sick in bed a meal, a child a snack, or a Mother’s Day morning surprise. The Serving Tray is also good for while you watch TV in bed or on the couch, perhaps while paying bills or working in a more leisurely manner.

The Tea Cup/Mug Stand is perfect for your coffee or tea while enjoying a nice read. Perhaps while basking in peaceful solitude on the porch or in the sun room. Bring this antique style stand with a refreshed Americana twist into your home today!

The Folding Table under our TV Tray Table category has been a customer favorite for over 35 years, and now you can bring home this item at a more inexpensive rate. We imagine it’ll give a great preview to the quality of our TV Tray Table sets.

Need a few inches to get something around the kitchen? The garage? Maybe for the little ones to reach the sink? The Step Stool is an inexpensive way to own a nice American crafted solid wood item that’s hefty and durable, which is important for its many uses.

Manchester Wood designs and produces quality, affordable, eco-friendly solid wood American made furniture in the Green Mountains of Vermont and Adirondack foothills of New York.

MLK Day: How It Stands For Us All

The past is transitory. It’s hard to place any thought on the past and fathom it as the real, true happening to be equated to this very moment. It’s due to growing and changing as a people, as nations, at an alarming rate. However, Martin Luther King, Jr., and his day of celebration next Monday is a past historical remembrance of a Great Soul where no doubt real changes and shifts in consciousness took place to bring us to a time to where, even not so in the distant past that it was, is hard to believe such hate ever occurred.

America has made countless moral mistakes in it’s past and current, through slavery, American-Japanese concentration camps, unnecessary wars, segregation, the treatment of Native Americans, and most recently, it’s disconnected spending in Government, banking systems, and their corporate conglomerates with using the very people who make it run.

1966. Martin Luther King Jr., along with his children, addresses a crowd.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man of the people, beyond his race. He stood up at a time in the name of God in Peace and Love on a topic that alarms us just to think about it ever existing. It shows how far we’ve come, and how much his work matters. Dr. King sought justice for a people being unjustly viewed and ruled by a system due to the color of their skin. In today’s issues by removing the skin color and adding your bank statement, you’ll find the universal Truth that Dr. King stood up for with us all.

He was a man of awareness. A clear voice and heart, and when he yelled, “I have a dream…” we listened, because God spoke through his very core.

At Manchester Wood, we open the discussion on Martin Luther King, Jr. a little shy of a week from this day of celebration to open the conversation. What this man stood for, and how can we continue to apply it today?

We’re growing as a nation, we as a people are becoming more aware, through shopping American Made products, occupying our hearts in demonstration for a brighter future, and growing to an age of empowerment.

I believe Dr. King would be proud, and would ask us to keep having dreams for a brighter day for all of God’s inhabitants.

God bless you Dr. King, and God bless the consumers of our justly made American furniture, and God bless the power coming to the American people.

May our past escape us, and our future amaze us!

FREE cutting board with ANY purchase on ManchesterWood.com in the month of January!

The only requirement is typing FREE in the coupon code box at check-out!

The cutting board is not only a rare item that samples our craftsmanship, it’s also a gesture of Gratitude for the last 35 years of unwavering support in commerce and Spirit that you’ve provided.

With a catalog of products that continues to grow, and an array of staple products that have been customer favorites, with some since the very beginning, we hope we provide you with the best in American made solid wood furniture.

Also, we’ve kept a blog entry steady for the past year; mostly on products and events, but also on employees, American history, and the review on American made business culture and what part we can provide as consumers and business owners. Be sure to visit our blog here, if interested: Click here for Manchester Wood’s blog page.

Follow our Twitter.

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And most importantly, from this author , our online store ManchesterWood.com.

Thanks for reading, blessings to you, also.

Manchester Wood: American Made Furniture

Manchester Wood designs and produces quality, affordable, eco-friendly solid wood American furniture in the Green Mountains of Vermont and Adirondack foothills of New York.

The American Made Christmas

Although the title speaks solely to Christmas, we feel all Holidays celebrated this time of year should strongly consider gifts to be Made in the USA. That may sound flag totting, a bit arrogant, or not Worldly enough in approach, but the American working class needs your help more than ever before, and what better time to offer your support than in this season of giving.

ABC World News with Diane Sawyer ran an article last week citing that if every American spent $64 on US Made goods that would create 200,000 jobs. And that’s not a lot of money to spend, considering the average American pays out $704 on shopping this time of year.

Now our little American made furniture plant has been picking up steam lately, and we thank you dearly for that. Our workforce has just entered full-time work again after several months on and off with part-time employment, many struggling to make ends meet. To say the times have been easy would be a lie, to say they’ve been a learning experience and a testament to the good we as people bestow, would be accurate and true.

Help us and other businesses producing American made products thrive and succeed in a Worldly model that so desperately needs our involvement.

In the same realm as energy efficient appliances, organic foods, alternative medicines, American made falls right into the same category as one in need of desperate action and understanding.

If you’re looking to gift or receive incredible American made solid wood furniture, look no further than Manchester Wood. If you have ideas beyond furniture, and want to help support other goods and services with a Made in USA seal, visit our good friends AmericansWorking.com for an extensive database on US Made businesses.

Happy Holidays, and God bless, from all of at Manchester Wood.

Our Employee Dinner: December 4th

Our Employee Dinner was December 4th at the Barn Restaurant in Pawlet, Vermont (pictured above) where we enjoyed each others company in holiday cheer. Aside from our blessed meal and time together, we passed out Christmas mugs and candy to our loyal workforce family as we enter this season of Spirit and Giving.

Thank you to our employees for this time together! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

www.ManchesterWood.com

American Made Christmas Shopping: the People’s Stimulus Package

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

ABC World News with Diane Sawyer’s “Made in America” series has continued far past the coverage Manchester Wood received as one of the “Made in USA” companies that supplied products towards the renovating of a Dallas home earlier this year with all American made items.

This holiday season they have taken an in-depth look at what Americans can do to help our domestic economy as we shop for gifts this Christmas.

A few interesting facts they discovered:

In the 1960s, nine out of every 10 products Americans bought for the holidays were made in America. Today easily more than half of what we buy is foreign-made.

If Americans spent $64 this holiday on an item made in America, we could create 200,000 jobs right now.

If it still sounds like a decent chunk of change consider that the average American spends $700 on Christmas or holiday gifts.

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We believe wholeheartedly in this work above as they research the issues and discover the solutions towards a recovering economy. As we discussed in our previous blog, “The Gift That Keeps Giving: The Holidays for Manchester Wood,” the Christmas season to us a symbol of Gratitude and thanks for the gifts bestowed upon us.

In buying our American made solid wood furniture you can contribute the support of double to six-times the efforts they found! You can truly help stimulate American business, help get more people back to work, and not only feel good about that, but also that you have an heirloom quality item that you’ll proudly display and use, not a cheap throw-away, but something handcrafted with pride.

Buy furniture from Manchester Wood today. Let’s create jobs instead of losing them. Give the gift that keeps giving.

Happy holidays from all of us at Manchester Wood, God bless you.

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To view our online catalog, click here.

To view the ABC World News “Made in America” series facts discussed in this blog, click here.