Jamestown Furniture Maker Anticipates Hiring More Workers


JAMESTOWN — Officials from Bestar-Bush say they are anticipating the addition of 30-40 employees to the workforce in the coming weeks at the company’s recently reopened facility in Jamestown.

Mark Weppner, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Design and Engineering, says the move is a result of the company’s growing sales through e-commerce. Bestar and Bush Industries, Inc. previously merged in January, which Weppner says resulted in the furniture manufacture accelerating in recent months such as desks, file cabinets, chairs and bookcases.

“Both Bestar and Bush were growing rapidly prior to our merger due to our excellence at selling furniture online, and now more than ever that’s where consumers are buying,” he said. “Although our Jamestown manufacturing facility was closed for several weeks, our distribution centers in Erie, Pennsylvania and Sacramento, California remained open, and our sales continued to climb. Now that our factory is open we to need replenish our inventory to meet the demand – at a time when many people in our region are looking for work. It’s the perfect time to grow our team.”





Positions will be posted on the careers page under “contact us” at Bush.co as specific needs are finalized. Contact employment@bushindustries.com for more information.

Employees in Jamestown, Erie, and Sacramento as well as in Bestar-Bush’s Canadian facilities must follow new safety protocols including social distancing, frequent hand sanitizing and washing, wearing face masks, entering and exiting through specific doors only, and mandatory temperature checks. Office employees continue to work from home.

“Our employees’ safety and wellbeing has been our top priority throughout this and will continue to be as we move forward,” Weppner said. “Our team has done an outstanding job of meeting our customers’ needs while working from home, and our distribution centers are doing excellent work shipping a record number of products and most importantly staying safe and healthy.”





















Weppner does not expect the company’s growth to slow down. New finishes for many of the Bush Furniture brand’s most popular collections including Cabot, Salinas, Somerset and Key West will debut this summer to give customers a greater color variety for their homes. Meanwhile, he expects a surge in commercial-grade Bush Business Furniture orders as companies elect to keep their employees home permanently, and those that return to work reconfigure their offices.

“Now that companies are more comfortable with remote work, we’re expecting further growth in home office sales as many of them make a permanent shift to work from home. We’ve added many contemporary finish options to our commercial-grade products as well to make them accessible to the work from home professional,” Weppner said. “We’re also anticipating many office redesigns in the near future to focus more on giving employees personal space. You’ll see less open plan or shared environments and more private offices, cubicle panels or privacy screens, all of which we provide.”

E-commerce continues to drive Bestar-Bush’s success with online retailers such as Wayfair, Amazon, Overstock and Cymax leading the way, along with the websites of office superstores Office Depot and Staples. Weppner credits that success to the company’s e-commerce capabilities, including same-day shipping with products designed and packaged for nationwide delivery in three to five business days.

Bestar-Bush has also invested in sales and marketing professionals who are experts in e-commerce, Weppner said. These positions include 3D graphic designers who create photorealistic product renderings, content writers, sales analysts, a robust inside sales and customer service team, along with engineering and product development personnel focused on quality and safety.









“Our immediate need for additional staff will be in manufacturing, but we expect to add more office positions to continue to drive our e-commerce business,” Weppner said. “This is an exciting time of growth for our company and we’re thrilled to continue our long history in Jamestown and to add to our team here.”

In January, Novacap – one of Canada’s leading private equity firms – announced that Bestar, one of its portfolio companies, had acquired Bush Industries. Together, Bestar and Bush have over 130 combined years of experience in the furniture industry and employ more than 600 people.

Bestar, with manufacturing facilities in Lac-Megantic and Sherbrooke, Quebec, is a designer, manufacturer, distributor and online seller of commercial office, home office, storage, bedroom, tables and garage storage furniture across North America. The company was founded in 1948. For more information, visit Bestar.ca.

Bush Industries’ corporate headquarters and U.S. manufacturing operations are located in Jamestown, New York, with additional facilities in Pennsylvania, California and China. The company designs, produces and distributes home and commercial office, entertainment, bedroom, storage, seating, occasional and entryway furniture. Bush Industries was founded in 1959. For more information, visit Bush.co.

 

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