RowOne Changes Ownership, Claims One-Week Delivery to Customers

**Editor's Note: Please read the first post in the comments section for an August 27, 2020 update to Row One's operating status**
(May 14, 2020) There’s nothing quite like a rebirth, especially when it involves a company firmly grounded within its own market segment. RowOne – maker of home entertainment seating – entered this year owned by founder Robert Cribbs, but has since been purchased and relaunched by its former Director of Sales and Marketing, Todd Girdis. Girdis brings quite a bit to the table, including name recognition across the company’s dealer base and a drive to further elevate RowOne’s exceptional product lineup.

A relaunch takes time, but Girdis says RowOne is on schedule to start shipping orders of popular models (and some newly enhanced models) by late summer. In the meantime, he and his leadership team are supporting dealers and expanding the independent manufacturer sales representative network.

“I’m energized to continue the positive momentum,” says Todd. “We are open for business, actively catching dealers up on the new RowOne, supporting customer service, and specifying designs and configurations for customers’ theaters. Many of the RowOne Direct Collection seating styles that dealers and homeowners have come to love over the years will remain, and will be available for fulfillment as soon as late summer, and we are making some exciting enhancements to several models that are sure to make RowOne even that much more ‘the talk of the town’.”

A notable differentiator between RowOne and its competition is order to delivery time. According to Girdis, home theater seating companies typically take eight to ten weeks to process and deliver an order. RowOne, however, is stockpiling enough inventory to claim delivery within seven business days. And any order can be sent directly to a dealer or upgraded to White Glove status for delivery direct to a customer’s home.

RowOne says it currently offers four lines of home theater seating, including the following:

• Plaza II is one of RowOne’s best-selling chairs for style and comfort, fitting any décor or lifestyle whether in a family room or a dedicated theater room. Covered in leatheraire for the look and feel of leather, each chair with arms comes with USB charging, power recline, and deep storage arms that can hold a multitude of items such as gaming and remote controls, books and a tray table. Plush backs with pocketed coil spring seats, fully padded arms and sides provide for hours of seating comfort.
• Prestige is already a market leader, with styling that fits any decor or lifestyle. Prestige includes all the same standard features highlighted in Plaza II. Prestige upgrades include premium leather/vinyl match covering and attractive base rail lighting.
• Revolution Sofa is a motion sofa, a workstation, and an entertainment hub. Recline to a favorite position, then adjust the headrest for ultimate comfort. Revolution melds quality and comfort with an abundance of features. This includes a pull-down center sofa seat to reveal a tray table with cupholders, USB charging ports and 110-volt power strip. Deep storage arms with lighted cupholders emit a soft blue light that romances the room. RowOne’s exclusive zipped-in ‘crumb catcher’ lining catches coins, popcorn and more for easy cleanup without moving the seat.
• Revolution is the ultimate in quality and comfort with an abundance of features including all the standard features highlighted above in Plaza II and Prestige. Revolution upgrades include premium leatheraire covering, motorized headrest, base rail lighting and memory button seating settings.
• Galaxy II is the market-competitive entry-level value that allows the dealer to compete hand-in-hand with the furniture retailer. Covered in dura-gel for the look and feel of leather, each chair with arms comes with power recline and a USB charging port.

Having achieved a top-five Home Theater Seating raking in CE Pro Magazine’s “2018 CE Pro 100 Brand Analysis,” RowOne’s industry cache carries quite a bit of weight. To find a RowOne dealer near you, visit www.rowoneht.com.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Here's an update to the above Row One news story... as of late August, Row One says it has stock on hand and will be able to reach dealers and job sights with orders within 7-10 business days. So, it appears mission is in fact accomplished. Also, Row One will be adding a free home theater design tool to its forthcoming mobile-optimized webpage, courtesy of a Carolina-based dealer called Audio Advice. The site is said to be rolling out soon, however, if you'd like see the design tool, you can visit Audio Advice on the web.

Below is Row One's most recent PR release updating the company's current operating status.

Ann Arbor, MI – August 27, 2020 – Home theater and home entertainment seating company RowOne® -- which relaunched February under the new ownership / direction of former Director of Sales and Marketing Todd Girdis -- is showing significant momentum in the CEDIA channel. In fact, Girdis even credits the pandemic as helping give the company “a push out of the gate.”

Ample Inventory of Home Entertainment Seating / Launch of RowOne Last Mile Service
True to Girdis’ statement in the company’s May 2020 relaunch press release, RowOne, unlike most other entertainment seating brands in the custom residential channel, will stock inventory and an ample supply at that. Girdis (now CEO) had targeted late summer for the first lot of production delivered to the company’s new warehouse located just outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan and is happy to report that the chairs have arrived and are ready for immediate delivery to authorized RowOne dealers.

RowOne pledges to reach any dealer or jobsite in the Continental US within 7-10 business days and offers an optional exclusive RowOne Last Mile Service - a convenient, scheduled delivery to a room of choice within a customer’s residence. “The ability to deliver within such a short timeframe is unusual as most seating companies don’t deliver until 8-10 weeks after receiving a purchase order. Further to this, pandemic-related supply chain issues have made those waits even longer,” says Girdis.

Girdis is betting that the inventory and just-in-time delivery are key differentiators for the brand, and it seems to be paying off. RowOne and the company’s growing independent sales rep force in conjunction with HTSA, BrandSource and AiN buying groups capitalized on dealer downtime during the earlier months of the pandemic. They presented the benefits of the brand -- reconnecting with past dealers and signing new ones -- with many committing to display in their showrooms and stocking the seating themselves.

Dealer Success Story – Audio Advice
North Carolina-based Audio Advice is a prime example of this. Over recent years this established home theater retailer/AV integration company has gradually increased its relationship with RowOne from that of a small display dealer to a full gallery dealer to purchasing large inventories of RowOne seating. According to Girdis, Audio Advice has taken delivery on more than hundreds of RowOne chairs in 2020 alone and both companies are very optimistic about the future, especially given the fact that much of the country will soon be heading into winter season where home theater sales really start to heat-up again.

Home Theater Designer™ Tool
RowOne is adding Audio Advice’s just-released Home Theater Designer™ to its soon-to-be-released mobile-optimized website. This free interactive 3D tool enables users to spec-in AV gear, loudspeakers, select between rows or standalone seating and even change room dimensions. “Proper selection and placement of audio and video components, as well as dedicated home theater seating, make the difference between simply a good entertainment experience and a truly great one,” said Girdis. “The folks at Audio Advice have this figured out. Their Home Theater Designer™ is so easy-to-use and is responsive in real-time; it is the ultimate tool to bring all of this together.”

AVB / BrandSource Virtual Tradeshow
RowOne is currently the only seating brand participating in the AVB / BrandSource Virtual Tradeshow taking place August 30 - September 1. “We are so very excited to share with members the unique benefits of the RowOne line and launch of our Last Mile Service,” said Girdis.

RowOne Seating Line: 4 Styles of Home Entertainment Seating: Galaxy II, Plaza II, Prestige and Revolution

Galaxy II is the market-competitive entry-level value that allows the dealer to compete hand-in-hand with the furniture retailer. Covered in black polyurethane fabric for the look and feel of leather, each chair with arms comes with power recline and a USB charging port.

Plaza II is one of RowOne’s best-selling chairs for style and comfort, fitting any décor or lifestyle whether in a family room or a dedicated theater room. Covered in black polyurethane fabric for the look and feel of leather, each chair with arms comes with USB charging, power recline, and deep storage arms that can hold a multitude of items such as gaming and remote controls, books and a tray table. Plush backs with pocketed coil spring seats, fully padded arms and sides provide for hours of seating comfort.

Prestige is already a market leader, with styling that fits any decor or lifestyle. Prestige includes all the same standard features highlighted in Plaza II. Prestige upgrades include premium black top grain leather/vinyl match covering and attractive base rail lighting.

Revolution Sofa is a motion sofa, a workstation, and an entertainment hub. Recline to a favorite position, then adjust the headrest for ultimate comfort. Revolution melds quality and comfort with an abundance of features. This includes a pull-down center sofa seat to reveal a tray table with cupholders, USB charging ports and 110-volt power strip. Deep storage arms with lighted cupholders emit a soft blue light that romances the room. RowOne’s exclusive zipped-in ‘crumb catcher’ lining catches coins, popcorn and more for easy cleanup without moving the seat.

Revolution is the ultimate in quality and comfort with an abundance of features including all the standard features highlighted above in Plaza II and Prestige. Revolution upgrades include premium black leatheraire covering, motorized headrest, base rail lighting and memory button seating settings.

Dealers and sales rep firms interested in learning more about selling RowOne can contact Todd Girdis by emailing todd@rowoneht.com or calling him at 734.395.3534.

About RowOne
Based near Ann Arbor, Michigan, and beginning February 2020 under the leadership and ownership of CEO Todd Girdis (formerly Director of Sales and Marketing), RowOne offers a unique line of home entertainment seating. The company’s products represent tremendous performance-to-value ratios based upon style, build-quality, feature sets, competitive pricing and 7-10 business day delivery anywhere in the Continental US. In 2018, RowOne was cited a top 5 home theater seating company by CEPro Magazine CEPro 100 dealers. The company’s products are available for sale by authorized dealers. For information on how to purchase, please contact RowOne via email at todd@rowoneht.com or call 734.395.3534. www.rowoneht.com.