Uttermost Adds Showrooms

July 7, 2008 Continuing a series of increases in showroom space, Uttermost has added two new showrooms. For the Atlanta market beginning this week, Uttermost has expanded it’s presence with another showroom across the hall from their long-term showroom on the 12th floor. This additional showroom displays Uttermost’s new line of accent furniture as well as coordinating lamps, wall décor, and accessories. Also added this summer is a 6-booth end cap showroom at Pier 94 of the New York Gift Fair. Per Mac Cooper, President/CEO, “we’re proud to be back at the New York show in a much bigger, better space than before. While we have a solid customer base in the region, we’re missing some of the smaller retailers who only shop New York.” Uttermost is a 33-year-old family owned and managed company out of Rocky Mount, VA. Their product lines consist of mirrors, art, clocks, lighting, accent furniture, and accessories. They have distribution centers in Riverside, CA and Virginia. Uttermost also has it’s own factory in China, and a complete staff and warehouse in Indonesia. The name Uttermost is taken from Acts 1:8.

Uttermost to Introduce Accent Furniture

March 11, 2008 After nearly a year of development, Uttermost will make its accent furniture debut in High Point this April. Per Mac Cooper, President, “we could not be more excited about our new furniture. We have some really cool items.” Cooper credits Francois Degueurce and Matthew Williams with the creative vision. Both Francois and Matthew have a long history of designing and developing upscale furniture. The 50-piece furniture introduction includes everything from stacking tables to tall chests to upholstered chairs. All furniture is either in stock or will be by late April. Furniture images below: 24036, 24012, 24035, 23003, 24020, 24027, 25955, 23004

Uttermost Adds Indonesian Office and Staff

Febuary 26, 2008 Uttermost is proud to announce the addition of an Indonesian office and staff. This new Indo office for Uttermost is under the leadership of Tan Yen Bauer, with product design and development by Matthew Williams. Per Mac Cooper, President of Uttermost, “we could not be more excited about this new situation. The resources available in Indo are incredible…reclaimed teak, aged terra cotta, cast aluminum, carved wood, cracked coconut with poured wax, penshell, and much more.” Uttermost’s Indo office staff includes a quality control team, sourcing and logistic personnel, a warehouse, wood kilns, and a showroom. Tan Yen, who has developed this staff and facilities over the past 10 years, will manage Uttermost’s Indo office. The initial Uttermost introduction of product from Indonesia will be this January, with much more scheduled for a High Point introduction. Photo: Break Time outside of Uttermost’s Indo showroom. Pictured are Matthew Williams, Mac Cooper, Tan Yen, Jeff Stump, and Larry Forbes.

Uttermost Adds Two Designers

January 4, 2008 To support Uttermost’s continued growth, Uttermost has added two additional Designers, Matthew Williams and David Frisch. These new Designers joined Uttermost on a freelance basis in May 2007, and will have their initial product debuts at the upcoming January markets. Per Mac Cooper, President of Uttermost, “both of these guys bring tremendous new strengths to Uttermost’s talented Design teams. Uttermost is blessed to now have six of the industries greatest talents working with Uttermost …Carolyn Kinder, Grace Feyock, Billy Moon, Francois Degueurce, as well as Matthew and David.” Matthew Williams is a top honor graduate from the NC State School of Design. His experience includes positions of Executive VP at Garcia Designer Collections, VP of Merchandising at Universal Furniture, and VP of Design at Maitland-Smith. Per Mac, “Matthew has already exceeded all expectations in his work with Uttermost. Not only are his designs great, his eye for details is awesome.” Matthew will have new lamps, mirrors, and accessories being introduced in Uttermost’s Atlanta, Dallas, and Las Vegas showrooms this month. David Frisch brings great experience in contemporary home furnishings. His designs have been featured at retailers such as Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, Target, and Federated Department Stores. His experience includes years of teaching Design at both the University of Arizona College of Architecture and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He also was a principal of Frank + Frisch, a multidisciplinary design consultancy based out of Los Angeles. Per Mac, “David’s new lamps and complimentary accessories are the coolest new contemporary lamp designs I’ve seen in years. I can’t wait for our customers to see David’s new product.”

Uttermost’s China Staff on Vacation

July 26, 2007 Uttermost likes to travel. While Uttermost’s facilities in Virginia and California were closed for July 4th, Uttermost’s quality control and sales support staff in China enjoyed some bonding time at the beach. A group of 28 boarded a plane and took some much deserved time off to enjoy swimming, dinner on the beach, hiking up a nearby mountain, as well as football on the beach. Their trip was to the southern coast of China, the Hainan islands. These islands are a favorite vacation spot in Asia due to their beautiful white sand beaches, lush forests, and hot springs. Per Mac Cooper, President of Uttermost, “these guys from our China office staff are so special to us. Led by Wayne Shang, they are a close-knit group of professionals that are a key part of the Uttermost family. I just wish we could all travel together.” Past Uttermost trips include cruises to the Bahama Islands for almost 400 people from the Rocky Mount VA headquarters, sales rep trips to places like Europe, Alaska, and Hong Kong, etc. Yes, Uttermost likes to travel.

Uttermost Reps in Puerto Vallarta

May 24, 2007 As part of its 2006 Sales Contest, 30 Uttermost Reps, Sales Executives, and family members enjoyed the perfect siesta between the Las Vegas and High Point markets. In early March, this group spent a week at a deluxe all-inclusive beach resort in Puerto Vallarta Mexico. Trip activities ranged from adventurous excursions to quiet time by the pool to dinner celebrations on the white sandy beach. The sales reps included earned this trip with superior performance in their territories. Previous Sales Contest award trips have included cruises in Europe and Alaska, a trip to Hong Kong and China, all-inclusive resorts in various Caribbean islands, and for 2007, a grand tour of Italy. Uttermost employees from Virginia also take part in Uttermost travel. The last trip included 455 employees and family members cruising the Bahamas and visiting several islands.

Keeping it in the Family

May 4, 2007 On February 28th, Alan Green passed away. Alan was the Uttermost representative for part of New York and New Jersey for the past 26 years, as well a great friend to many. Since Alan’s passing, Uttermost has been respectfully working on the most proper and effective structure to take care of his loyal customers. Alan’s sister and father, Gale and Milt, continue to represent Uttermost in the areas they previously worked, but could not cover Alan’s territory also. Despite this, there was a strong desire to “keep it in the family”. Uttermost is pleased to announce the “new” representatives to Alan’s customers, AJ and Kelly Kelsheimer. AJ and Kelly currently represent Uttermost in a smaller territory in the mid-west, but have agreed to take this new challenge. While they are new to New York and New Jersey, they are not new to Uttermost or Uttermost’s broad product line. They have represented Uttermost with great enthusiasm, the highest integrity, and are very well liked by their customers in the mid-west.

Degueurce and Marsh Join Uttermost, Scutaro Promoted

January 11, 2007 After seven consecutive years of rapid growth, Uttermost has again added talent to their team. Brenda Marsh joined Uttermost in October 2006 as a Lighting Specialist, a new position at Uttermost. Brenda brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in lighting and related products, as she has worked in Lighting for over 22 years. Her experience includes 12 years doing showroom design and marketing, and 2 years as the Lighting Designer and Department Head at Home Depot, and over 5 years at Home Depot’s upscale Expo stores as their Lighting Design Training Specialist. She also has experience as the National Sales Manager of Nova Lighting.

Uttermost Expanding in All Directions

November 28, 2006 For the past 20 years, Uttermost has averaged a 24% growth rate per year, with no indications of slowing down. Per Mac Cooper, President and CEO, “we have been blessed with a loyal group of retail customers all over the world, and these guys know that they can count on us. Because we are a profitable line for them year after year, they continue to buy and sell more Uttermost product.” Following this pattern of consistent growth, Uttermost is expanding in three showrooms for the upcoming January markets. Their Las Vegas showroom has been relocated into the new building #2, and expanded to almost 13,000 square feet. Uttermost’s Dallas space has been expanded to over 17,000 square feet, allowing room to display all of their product lines including their lighting fixtures. In Atlanta, Uttermost is under construction now to expand into an adjacent showroom, giving them their largest space ever in Atlanta. Per Mac Cooper, “these showroom expansions are needed to show our growing product line of wall décor, lamps, lighting fixtures, accessories, clocks and accent furniture.” To support the distribution of this product, Uttermost added a large state-of-the-art distribution facility on the West Coast earlier in the year. In Rocky Mount Virginia, another 100,000 square feet of high ceiling distribution was added to give Uttermost over 500,000 square feet in Rocky Mount alone. So what’s next? Possibly another expansion to the Virginia distribution facility, as well as an expansion of their High Point space, the only permanent showroom that Uttermost isn’t currently expanding.

Brand UTTERMOST

November 17, 2006 Beginning in the first quarter of ’07, Uttermost will kick off their first consumer advertising campaign. This campaign will include full-page ads in Architectural Digest, Metropolitan Home, House Beautiful, and Veranda. This campaign will give Uttermost a permanent presence in these prestigious publications to raise brand awareness and to support Uttermost dealers with their marketing of Uttermost product. Per Mac Cooper, President and CEO, “Uttermost has decent name recognition at the consumer level, but we are not a recognized brand like we should be to consumers. We want Uttermost to be a brand that consumers ask for when they walk into a retail store, which should be a real asset to our dealers.” One of the first steps in preparing for this campaign was to revamp their website, which was completed earlier in 2006. The advertising campaign will refer consumers to Uttermost’s website, which was developed to be extremely shopper friendly and help them to better understand Uttermost and Uttermost’s product categories. From there, consumers will be directed to approved retailers in their geographic area. While Uttermost’s primary focus is to offer the latest in fashionable wall décor, lighting, and accessories, the brand UTTERMOST intends to represent just that in the eyes of consumers. Per Mac, “a recognized and respected brand can make the sale on the retail level that much easier and give comfort to the consumer.”

Uttermost Unveils Elegant, State-of-the-Art Virtual Showroom to Meet the Needs of Today’s Home Furnishing Retailers

May 22, 2006 Uttermost, the industry’s leading home décor accessory and lighting manufacturer, just unveiled its new elegant and easy-to-navigate virtual showroom. Designed to cater to the specific needs of today’s most prestigious home furnishing retailers, the virtual showroom is located on the company’s new web site at: www.uttermost.com. The company, which was started 31 years ago, manufactures stunning and reasonably priced home accessories including mirrors, art, metal wall art, lamps, accessories, clocks and lighting fixtures.

Uttermost Opens West Coast Distribution Facility

January 15, 2006 The Uttermost Company, headquartered in Rocky Mount, Virginia, announced today the opening of a new distribution facility located in Riverside, California. The West Coast distribution facility will serve eleven western states and key accounts throughout the U.S. The new facility will cover 150,000 square feet with racking five levels high, and will include state of the art distribution systems and material handling equipment.

Uttermost Jumps into Lighting Fixtures with Both Feet

December 12, 2005 Less than four years after introducing lamps under the name Uttermost Lighting, Uttermost is making its debut into Lighting Fixtures at the January Dallas Market Center. Per Mac Cooper, President and CEO, “this is the largest product development effort we have ever made. It makes our lamp introduction 3 ½ years ago look small.”

Uttermost Expands Again

August 15, 2005 The Uttermost Company, headquartered in Rocky Mount Virginia, completed another building expansion in August of 2005. This high ceiling building addition will be used for additional warehouse space, as well as receiving and unloading containers. With racking four levels high, this new addition will provide another 7,540 pallet positions. According to Mac Cooper, President and CEO, “with a growth rate of over 40% last year, we need space faster than we can build it. Fortunately there is plenty of available space nearby.” With this newest addition, Uttermost has 486,000 square feet at its primary US facility, plus another 200,000 square feet rented for production and storage. The next addition will most likely be a West Coast distribution center rather than more space in Rocky Mount. In China, Uttermost has it’s own factory for lamp production, with capacity available to produce accessories and other product types.

Uttermost 30th Anniversary Cruise

April 25, 2005 Uttermost likes to celebrate big, and they know how to have fun. On March 17th, Uttermost closed its factory and office, and headed south for Jacksonville, Florida. Much like they did 5 years ago, they celebrated their Anniversary cruising the blue waters of the Bahamas.