PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y.–Safavieh has created a new Custom Mass Market Division to address demand from large rug retailers for private-label and customized programs. The division will be headquartered in offices at the company’s warehouse complex in Easton, Pa.
Heading up the new area will be Ken Shahi, who has been named manager of Mass Market Custom Programs. Shahi has relocated to Easton to implement the new programs. He was appointed to the new position from that of territory manager, most recently for Florida; Virginia; West Virginia; Maryland; Washington, D.C.; and Texas. It was Shahi’s development of national mass-market accounts that led to his being named to the position, according to Cyrus Yaraghi, principal of Safavieh.
“Ken’s work with our product development team to create unique programs for mass-market stores inspired the new program,” Yaraghi said, adding the company has added a special showroom to build the concept to a full-blown division. The space will display conceptual ideas in rug qualities suitable for volume sales. Retailers will be able to choose from available stock in the warehouse and explore custom options.
“This showroom and program have been created to target customers who work in a scale beyond our programmed collections for smaller retailers,” Shahi said. That translates to the company selling a different type of good to this customer, he added. “We will design private-label rugs and collections for mass production with container minimums,” Shahi said.