page_title: La-Z-Boy
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: La-Z-Boy / History / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: LA-Z-BOY Furniture Gallery Store, Saugus, Massachusetts - 2001
context_page_description: La-Z-Boy Inc. is an American furniture manufacturer based in Monroe, Michigan, USA, that makes home furniture, including upholstered recliners, sofas, stationary chairs, lift chairs and sleeper sofas. The company employs more than 11,000 people.
  La-Z-Boy furniture is sold in thousands of retail residential outlets in the United States and Canada and is manufactured and distributed under license in other countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Turkey and South Africa. La-Z-Boy holds US and international patents on more than 200 different styles and mechanisms.
  La-Z-Boy Incorporated is divided into three reportable operating segments: the Upholstery Group, the Casegoods Group and the Retail Group. The Upholstery Group primarily manufactures and sells upholstered furniture to furniture retailers and proprietary stores. This includes recliners and motion furniture, sofas, lift chairs, loveseats, chairs, ottomans and sleeper sofas.
context_section_description: In 1927, cousins Edward M. Knabusch and Edwin J. Shoemaker partnered and invested in the furniture business in the town of Monroe, Michigan.  They set out to design a chair for what they called "nature’s way of relaxing." Using orange crates to mock-up and refine their idea, they invented a wood-slat porch chair with a reclining mechanism. Knabusch and Shoemaker then upholstered their innovation and marketed it as a year-round chair. The chair was a success; they held a contest to name it—La-Z-Boy was the winner.
  In 1969, after years primarily as a manufacturer of recliners, La-Z-Boy started designing other products including reclining sofas, sleep sofas and modular groups. 1981 sales were $150 million. In 1983, La-Z-Boy introduced its first line of stationary sofas and occasional chairs, later offering a full line of home furnishings.
caption: La-Z-Boy Furniture Gallery on Rte. 1 in Saugus, Massachusetts, in 2001
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