Furniture changed forever in 1927 when two cousins, Edward Knabusch and Edwin Shoemaker, designed a new mechanism in Knabusch’s father’s garage. This mechanism allowed the bottom and back of a chair to move in sync while remaining connected. And the chair they built with it, made from wood slats, was the first recliner.
For Knabusch and Shoemaker, it was also the beginning of a lifelong passion. They started selling their wood slat recliners—designed for outside use—out of the back of a truck around town. But demand grew so high that they quickly established a brick-and-mortar location: Floral City Furniture. Floral City Furniture takes its name from the cousins' hometown of Monroe, Michigan, where La-Z-Boy is still headquartered today.
By 1929, Floral City Furniture was incorporated and growing rapidly. That same year, Knabusch and Shoemaker patented their recliner design and held a contest to choose a name for it. Customers and community members submitted “The Sit-N-Snooze,” and “The Slack Back,”—but the winner was, of course, “La-Z-Boy.”
Knabusch and Shoemaker continued to innovate, unveiling the first recliner with a footrest in the 50s and the first ever rocking recliner in 1961. Now their spirit of innovation lives on in La-Z-Boy’s wide variety of products: everything from sofas to tables to ottomans and more. Every piece of La-Z-Boy furniture bears commitment to craftsmanship and quality, all made in North America.
Portland’s local La-Z-Boy branch, like Knabusch and Shoemaker’s, was founded by a family with a passion for quality furniture. Born in 1995, Oregon’s La-Z-Boy Home Furnishings & Décor and is still independently run and family-owned to this day.
From 1995 to 1999, La-Z-Boy Home Furnishings & Décor opened five stores in five years, becoming one of the fastest growing businesses in Oregon. Now, with four Portland stores (Delta Park, Tualatin, Clackamas & Tanasbourne) as well as Salem and Eugene locations, La-Z-Boy Home Furnishings & Décor combines the diverse selection and manufacturing power of a larger company with the customer-focused approachability that only a locally owned business can provide.
