National Furniture is committed to the principle that a lack of furniture manufacturers in the tri-state area region is reducing the selection available to the residents and making the costs of quality furniture more expensive.  This need was recognized after conducting interviews with residents and wholesalers.

Several articles in each of the tri-state area’s three major newspapers led Bob Wood Jr. to the conclusion that substantial potential existed in the interior design market there.  At least two articles specifically mentioned the growth in demand for interior design consultants.  

Another article related several anecdotes about interior design consultants who had assisted local tri-state area residents but only after the residents had actually made their furniture selections.  In these cases, customers were invariably less than satisfied since the consultants did not know the available products and could not assist them in assembling an integrated and harmonious design.  Yet another article mentioned that, for this same reason, businesses opening and relocating in the area were bringing in interior design consultants from several hundred miles away.

Finally, new upscale housing developments are booming in the tri-state area.  A local Chamber of Commerce press release announced that the total number of new homes built in the fifty-mile radius at the core of the tri-state area was projected to increase 72% over the previous year.  Based on this research, Bob Wood has concluded that the time is right for an aggressive expansion in the tri-state area.  The following table (Market Segments) depicts the division of markets in the tri-state area: