And its strategy has changed, too. But Badorf Shoe Co. always has Links of London a Lititz address, since its founding in . Now that's about to change, too. Badorf Shoe has bought The Bed Furniture Warehouse building at Auction Road, Manheim, and plans to move there in April. "This should give us a lot of room to grow," said Duane Gingerich, Badorf Shoe's president and chief executive officer. The children's shoe distributor paid . million for the ,squarefoot building, according to courthouse records filed last week. The Bed Furniture Warehouse, meanwhile, has consolidated at its Rapho Business Park building, Arrowhead Drive. "You either figure out how to control your expenses or your overhead is going to get you," said Dan Boyle, Bed Furniture president. For Badorf Shoe, the acquisition roughly triples Links of London L Charm space. Its current building, at Rothsville Road, Lititz, is just , square feet. The new building is next to Route and near the turnpike, a major plus for a distributor that relies on trucks to deliver its goods. While Badorf Shoe will use most of the new building for distribution, it also will provide space for offices and a small outlet store. There, Badorf Shoe will sell samples and clearance items to the public, as it does on Rothsville Road. Badorf Shoe was founded by brothers Norman and Paul Badorf as a shoe manufacturing company. In , they sold the business, then on West Lincoln Avenue, to Ura Gingerich, Duane's father, who died in . In , Duane Gingerich bought out his two brothers. Later, he brought his two sons Justin, vice president, and Brandon, director of sales into the business. Badorf Shoe stopped manufacturing in , later leasing the West Lincoln Avenue building to Outback Toys. The firm consolidated operations at its Rothsville Road distribution center, which it now will look to lease. Badorf Shoe links of london sale another strategic change recently, by expanding its sales focus beyond its traditional market of smalltown shoe stores. Now it also sells to major national retailers such as Nordstroms, plus online merchants, stripmall shoe stores, clothing boutiques and other merchants. Products include RICOSTA, Germany's largest children's brand Tsukihoshi, Japan's largest children's brand and the FootMates brand, which Badorf Shoe created in the s. Though its work force has been pared from a peak of in the s, when it still was manufacturing, to today, Badorf Shoe's sales have benefited from the new tack. "Our last three years have been the biggest in the history of the company," said Duane Gingerich. Sales topped million in . Gingerich credited Badorf Shoe's excellent quality, customer service and reputation for the increase. "Plus, I valentines Day pendants a lot," he added. Boyle started The Bed Furniture Warehouse in with one employee in a ,squarefoot showroom, stocked with , of inventory. Boyle expanded the business over the years to include stores in Manheim and Brownstown, supplied from a warehouse in Rapho. But since peaking in , sales have suffered "a substantial decrease," a trend worsened by the recession and its aftermath. So over the past two years, Boyle has put his business in reverse. He sold his Brownstown store in .
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