For 100 years, the staples of Georgia Chair Company have been solid oak chairs, rockers and stools.
GAINESVILLE - At a 100th anniversary celebration for Georgia Chair Company Friday afternoon, company President Harry Bagwell announced that the family-owned business will be growing in the next couple of years.<br />
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"Our projection is that we'll be able to put 50 to 60 jobs in in 2015 and maybe another 50 in '16, so we hope for another 100-plus jobs in the next year-and-a-half," said Bagwell.<br />
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Bagwell said the economy in the last several years has made growth difficult, but the company has found innovative ways to introduce its products to the market.<br />
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"We've really just had to take what we do and look for things that were in our wheelhouse that we could accomplish that would let us keep making furniture the right way - and make good quality furniture - and then see where we could apply it to a different kind of market set," said Bagwell.<br />
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He pointed to a partnership with The Big Green Egg Company as an example. Georgia Chair now builds tables, made of cypress, that will hold the Big Green Egg grills.<br />
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Not only does Bagwell have plans for local growth, though. He announced Friday that Georgia Chair will enter into an international trade agreement with Merjas Business Holding in Saudi Arabia, building a plant that will employ 150 people - mostly women - in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. <br />
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Ninth District Congressman Doug Collins was part of the effort, bringing together Georgia Chair Company officials with international consulting firm US Global Connect, and the American Business Association in Dammam. According to figures from the Saudi government, the unemployment rate for women in the country is 34%, and the government has been working specifically on a plan that will educate and employ women in the country. Georgia Chair's new facility will help close the gap.<br />
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Bagwell told a group of dignitaries, friends, family members and employees during the Friday celebration that Georgia Chair Company had seen plenty of history since 1914.<br />
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The company originally was situated in Flowery Branch, but a fire in 1921 prompted company founders J.B. and H.L. Edmondson to move into Gainesville (closer to a fire station, as the story goes) in 1922. Georgia Chair has stood at its current site on Grove Street and Industrial Boulevard since that time. Bagwell noted that the company survived two depressions and was spared in the Gainesville tornado of '36. <br />
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He also said he had done some research and found that Georgia Chair is one of only 1,400 family-owned companies in the United States that have reached the age of 100 years.<br />
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Bagwell, who has worked at the company for 30 years, followed in the footsteps of his father, who spent 55 years at Georgia Chair. He said he's proud of the legacy.<br />
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"It's great to come to work every day and produce a product you're proud of and be able to get it to the marketplace and get it sold."<br />
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