Green Furniture Design to end retail operations

Doug Green of Eco-friendly Style Furniture says the choice to stop promoting custom-made furniture at his showroom on Commercial Street will permit him to sell his styles directly to businesses in need of cost-saving, sustainable production processes.

"It's time for me to focus on moving this idea along," says Green, 54, president and owner with the high-end furnishings organization. "This is the challenge that confronts me."

Green is hoping manufacturers' interest in generating much more high-end furnishings with much less money will fuel demand for his designs.

"We are in discussions with several main American furnishings manufacturers who are interested in licensing our intellectual property and style services," Green mentioned in a press release announcing the decision. "I'm really excited about the prospect of our styles reaching a broader audience although working to strengthen the position of American producers in the global marketplace."

Green, originally an industrial designer, has been making furnishings with an eye for sustainability because 1993. But the recession has forced him to shift his business model from promoting retail to licensing his sustainable style models to other companies.

Earlier this month, he trimmed his function force from seven full-time employees to two, plus one part-time worker. "The economy played a factor inside a sense that I was working so hard to run my company, that I didn't have sufficient time to do design," Eco-friendly claims.

Soon the 2,400-square-foot showroom is going to be available for lease or put up for sale. Eco-friendly claims he will either lease out the entire room to a brand new tenant or perhaps a portion of it, based on what the marketplace will bear. Until a brand new proprietor or tenant is discovered, the showroom is going to be open by appointment only. He claims the Eco-friendly Design Furnishings web site will also be taken down and re-launched with a much smaller item list. "We strategy to take our last orders within the next two weeks."

After that, he and his lone woodworker will consider orders on a more restricted basis and make customized chairs, desks, book instances, dining room tables and other pieces at his 9,000-square-foot shop located within the Portland Star Match Co. building, also on Commercial Street. He claims the woodworker will also help construct prototypes of various pieces to assist him market his styles to prospective buyers.

Following promoting his furnishings to clients nationwide and beyond, Eco-friendly is confident he will discover his share of manufacturers to carry on his styles.

"Green Design Furniture has created a reputation and brand that is recognized close to the country. Our following step is going to be to license the designs and technology to others," Eco-friendly says.

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