Hoff To Lead Spectra Home

Furniture World News Desk on 9/28/2017

Spectra Home recently announced that industry veteran John Hoff has been named president of the upholstered furniture maker long known as a private-label supplier to high profile specialty retailers and catalog houses. Bill Cubberley has left the company to pursue other interests.

Hoff is currently president of Palatial Furniture, a Cornelius, N.C.-based leather furniture supplier catering to medium- to upper-range retailers and interior designers. Both Palatial Furniture and Spectra Home are divisions of Shayne International Holdings, Ltd. According to Jay Shane, managing director of Shayne International, the two companies will be merged under the Spectra Home brand as of November 1.

“Spectra and Palatial have been the marketing arms for Cosie Leather Products and Shayne Industries based in Hangzhou, China for the past 10 years, and it’s time to merge both companies to be more competitive and efficient,” relates Shane. “John Hoff is a long-time veteran of the upholstery business and is a well-respected expert in the trade. He has an excellent service record with all dealers and I believe he will lead the new team to a new level of improved performance that will naturally grow the business.”

Hoff’s background in the upholstered furniture business is broad and deep. In addition to leading Palatial for the past 13 years, the executive has served as vice president and general manager of upholstery at Pennsylvania House, and vice president of sales at both Highland House and C.R. Laine. He began his sales career as a manufacturer’s representative for Franklin Furniture in Columbiana, Ohio in 1977, working with Mid-West retail heavyweights like Marshall Fields, Colby’s and Gabberts. Based at the time in Chicago, he also maintained a to-the-trade showroom at the Merchandise Mart for six years where he gained an intimate understanding of the unique needs of interior designers. He launched Palatial Furniture with Jay Shane in 2004.

“My relationship with Jay Shane began while I was at Pennsylvania House because we were doing a lot of business with him in leather furniture,” Hoff says. “When then corporate owner La-Z-Boy made the decision to close the Pennsylvania House plants in Lewisburg and Monroe due to competitive pressures, it made sense for us to get together and launch a new company.”

Nearly 14 years later, Hoff is excited about building on the strengths of sister companies Spectra Home and Palatial. “Spectra Home is known as a fashion leader, and Palatial Furniture is a leader in supplying the design trade with the kind of special order capabilities and customer service that interior designers need to grow their businesses. With the installation of Christine Pressley as operations manager last month, we have already made great strides at Spectra Home in the areas of customer service and logistics, and by April Market 2018, we will have also simplified Spectra Home’s special order program.”

In the meantime, Hoff says he is using his extensive experience in sales force management to build the company’s talented team of professionals. “We are looking to expand our sales team with more smart people,” he notes. “And, of course, we are looking forward to introducing fashionable new product at both companies with the kind of extreme values that both of the companies are already known for.”

Indeed, Shane reports, “Our China team has been very professional in design, product development, quality production and on-time delivery, with two-week turn-around on special orders. In short, we will be offering John full support from our side, with the expectation of more than 10 percent growth every year.”

Both Palatial and Spectra Home will maintain separate showrooms in High Point until Spring 2018. This Market, see Palatial Furniture at 200 N. Hamilton in the North Court, space 213. Spectra Home will show on the sixth floor of the C&D building in spaces 6E, 6K and 6L.