Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. is an American furniture chain with about 300 stores (called Design Centers) across the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It was founded in 1932 by two brothers-in-law, Nathan S. Ancell and Theodore Baumritter.

Operations

As of 2020, Ethan Allen has 304 design centers domestically and abroad, nine manufacturing facilities in the United States, Mexico, and

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

, and 14 retail delivery centers located across the United States and Canada as of 2019, along with sales of $589.8 million. It is one of the largest furniture companies in the United States. The company makes customized furniture domestically (Maiden, NC), such as upholstered furniture, sofas, and chairs, custom made in a selected fabric.

History

The company was started as a housewares manufacturer in 1932 by Theodore Baumritter and his brother-in-law Nathan S. Ancell. They bought a bankrupt furniture factory in

Beecher Falls, Vermont Beecher Falls is a census-designated place in the town of Canaan, Essex County, Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New ...

, in 1936 and adopted the name "Ethan Allen" for its early-American furniture introduced in 1939, after the Vermont Revolutionary leader

Ethan Allen Ethan Allen ( – February 12, 1789) was an American farmer, businessman, land speculator, philosopher, writer, lay theologian, American Revolutionary War patriot, and politician. He is best known as one of the founders of Vermont and for ...

. In 1972, Ethan Allen moved its headquarters from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Danbury, Connecticut Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

. The Ethan Allen International Headquarters Complex includes the Ethan Allen Hotel, corporate headquarters offices, and an interior design center. The firm was sold in 1980 to Interco for $150 million, with Ancell remaining as an advisor. The company was sold again in 1989 to a management group headed by current chairman, president, and CEO

Farooq Kathwari Farooq Kathwari (born 1944) is an Indian-American businessman who is currently the CEO of Ethan Allen. Life Kathwari moved to the United States from Kashmir, India in 1965. He is the Chairman, President and Chief Executive officer of Ethan Al ...

. In 1993, the company went public to help raise $156.9 million through the sale of common stock. In 2004, Ethan Allen closed its two plants in

Boonville, New York Boonville is a town in Oneida County, New York, United States. The town is in the northeastern section of the county. The population was 4,555 at the 2010 census. The town includes a village, also called Boonville. The town and village are named ...

and Bridgewater, Virginia, laying off 250 each. In 2008, the company announced plans to close a dozen design centers. The decision was made to consolidate the design centers with others that were currently serving the same market area. In 2009, the company laid off 238 workers from Beecher Falls, Vermont; 93 workers remained. In 2009, Ethan Allen closed the Eldred, PA manufacturing plant. In 2021, during the 2021 cryptocurrency boom, the company's stock price increased as investors confused the company's stock with

Ethereum Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain with smart contract functionality. Ether (Abbreviation: ETH; sign: Ξ) is the native cryptocurrency of the platform. Among cryptocurrencies, ether is second only to bitcoin in market capita ...

, which shares the same

ticker symbol A ticker symbol or stock symbol is an abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. In short, ticker symbols are arrangements of symbols or characters (generally Latin letters ...

Manufacturing plants

Current manufacturing plants

Orleans, Vermont Orleans is a village in the northwestern corner of Barton, Orleans County, Vermont, United States. With a population of 788 at the 2020 census, it is the largest village in the county. History Roger Enos purchased land in 1820 in the area fro ...

Silao, Guanajuato Silao is a municipality in the west-central part of the state of Guanajuato in Mexico. Its seat is the city of the same name. This municipality lies adjacent to the west side of the municipality of Guanajuato, the state capital. This municipali ...

, Mexico *

Passaic, New Jersey Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69,78 ...

Old Fort, North Carolina Old Fort is a town in McDowell County, North Carolina, McDowell County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 811 people in the 2020 U.S. Census. History Before the arrival of European settlers, the area that is now Old Forts was po ...

Maiden, North Carolina Maiden is a town in Catawba and Lincoln counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The population was 3,310 at the 2010 census. Maiden was the first public high school in the state with an observatory and is currently home to an Apple iCloud Da ...

Former manufacturing plants

References

External links

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Spotlight on Ethan Allen - Toronto
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ethan Allen (furniture Company) Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Furniture retailers of the United States Manufacturing companies established in 1932 Companies based in Danbury, Connecticut Barton, Vermont Retail companies established in 1932