BOSTON — When Gordon Brothers bought Big Lots out of bankruptcy earlier this year, it — along with Tiger Capital Group and Hilco Global — acquired the rights to Broyhill in the process.
And after it sold the Big Lots trademark to Variety Wholesalers, the three firms retained possession of the legacy furniture brand’s intellectual assets in a joint venture. Gordon Brothers’ brands division will manage Broyhill, making it asset-light, with plans to bring it back to the marketplace in the spring of 2026.
“We will manage the brand. We love the brand. We love the heritage,” Carolyn D’Angelo, senior managing director and head of brand operations for Gordon Brothers, told Furniture Today. “We know the brand has meaning in the market. We will create a strategy to bring this brand back to relevance and bring it into today’s world by doing a few things.”
D’Angelo said Gordon Brothers’ brands division does three things to manage and maximize brands in its portfolio. As an example, she cited its five-year ownership of the Laura Ashley brand, which it bought out of insolvency in 2020. While under Gordon Brothers’ leadership, Laura Ashley grew to more than $750 million in global retail sales and expanded to more than 80 countries across six continents. It then sold Laura Ashley to Marquee Brands in January.
First is brand management, which includes using licensing to grow the brand.
“For Laura Ashley, when we first bought the brand, we worked with (British retailer) Next and partnered with them as a distribution partner. Once we got the brand in Next, we worked with the licensee to get it in front of consumer,” D’Angelo said. “We’ll do the same with Broyhill. We want to make sure we have a strong partner for the licensee, and then we give the retailer a good reason to carry the brand.”
The second piece is marketing the brand, including a combination of social media and influencer marketing as well as events, as it makes sense. In the case of Laura Ashley, which was celebrating its 70th anniversary, Gordon Brothers secured sponsorship rights for the Chelsea Flower Market.
“We will use the method of marketing that makes sense for the brand. We will do events, social media and other forms of marketing. It depends on what the needs are,” D’Angelo said. “Gordon Brothers will invest in the marketing of this brand.”
The third focus is to make sure the brand has a consistent aesthetic across licensees to ensure a clear and repeatable vision.
“We view Broyhill as a classic brand, which is a great position, but we want to update it. We want an updated classic look,” D’Angelo said. “We feel it’s Middle America with great awareness with [the] Middle America consumer.”
And while Broyhill hasn’t had the smoothest decade-plus, as former parent companies Furniture Brands International and Heritage Home Group failed, it did have a few good years with Big Lots after it was acquired in 2019. In 2021, Furniture Today was told Broyhill was a $750 million brand for Big Lots and accounted for 40% of the retailer’s upholstery sales. D’Angelo said it’s still got some cachet in the marketplace.
“There’s a nostalgia I love and a great storytelling to this brand. It’s a wonderful legacy story as well,” she said. “People in the furniture business have fond memories of this brand. It’s one of the key brands in the business. We’re excited to get working on it.”
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