Dining room chairs from Vietnam. Patio recliners from China. Rugs from India. A City Furniture showroom is a global marketplace of imports.

Koenig does not anticipate passing along his higher costs to his shoppers. But he doesn’t think they’ll be spared, either. “It’s very disruptive. The customer is going to take a bit of a hit. We’re going to take a hit,” he said.

The number of people employed making furniture in America has been in a long-term downtrend. Almost 700,000 people worked in the industry at the turn of the century. Only half the number of jobs remain 25 years later, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

City Furniture has spent $9 million since 2019 on its own American-made brand called Kevin Charles. It cuts and sews upholstery for sofas, loveseats and ottomans at a factory in Mississippi.  ”We understand what it takes to manufacture in the U.S.” said Koenig.

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