Furniture business in Plymouth braces for possible tariff impact
The president's tariffs to drive up the costs of everyday items, including what many people are sitting on right now — furniture.
Vietnam is the world's number one furniture builder. Unless a deal gets done, a 46% tax on imports from there will take effect after a 90-day pause.
It's news that the owners of Minnesofa in Plymouth, Minnesota, are keeping an eye on.
The name and business are new. College athletes Max Bjorklund and Luke Schultz teamed up to flip furniture on Facebook Marketplace.
"We started out of my Dad's garage in 2022 right after COVID," Bjorklund said. "We pretty much refurbished old couches, anything we could find at the time, fixed them up to the best of our ability, took pictures of them and hoped we could get some sales."
Their business grew to a Plymouth store that sells new furniture made in Wisconsin and Vietnam.
On Monday, the editor-in-chief of Furniture Today wrote, "tariffs took dead aim at some of the furniture industry's largest and most impactful source countries, and they could trigger the most extensive realignment of global sourcing in a generation."
As for Minnesofa, Schultz said, "I would say uncertainty is where the consumer sentiment and markets are at right now."
For now, they are seeing a surge in business, albeit the weather or looming tariffs.
"We had a PR day. It's a personal record. We sold the most couches we ever had," Schultz said.
They are savoring the moment and preparing for the next.
"If they raise our costs, we probably will have to raise prices a little bit, but that is where we are striving to be that budget friendly store." Bjorklund said.
Schultz added that their business might have a thinner margin.
Minnesofa works closely with Ashley Furniture, and says they have no word right now of price changes.
