Hospitality furniture factory and showroom opens in Las Vegas

A Canadian manufacturing company on Friday opened a new Las Vegas factory and showroom that is expected to have a $66 million economic impact on the city over the next five years.

Foliot Furniture, which supplies furniture for hotels, universities and the military, has facilities in Montreal and Tennessee, and settled on a Las Vegas site near McCarran International Airport for its West Coast location with help from the Nevada Development Authority.

Foliot wanted to expand its North American presence to be closer to its Western clients.

"To better serve the people, you have to be from the community and from the general area," said company owner Daniel Foliot. "I think the East is too far to serve the West."

Foliot said Las Vegas competed with Reno, Phoenix and Los Angeles for his company's business, and though Phoenix offered marginally higher cost savings, the decision came down to location. The manufacturer counts several major hospitality companies as clients, and Foliot said the Strip and its hotels were an integral factor in its choice of Las Vegas as a new base.

"I think I am where my customers need me to be," Foliot said. "At the present time we're doing the Stratosphere, and we can be there in 10 minutes to serve them if they have problems. It was worth the few extra bucks to be here."

Foliot said he was impressed by the city's approach to landing the facility, more so than the other places he considered.

"The representation from all parties involved, whether it's real estate or the NDA, everybody was very, very proactive and much better than any of the other three areas," Foliot said.

The authority guided Foliot through the facility scouting process -- the company selected the former Freeman building for its new home -- and the applications for incentives like sales tax abatement and money for job creation.

Foliot has already hired 90 employees to staff its new facility, and expects to hire more than 100 additional workers within the next year.

In addition to the $66 million economic impact, the authority estimates that Foliot will generate local tax revenue of approximately $2.7 million, and an additional $546,000 will fill the state's coffers over the next five years.

Authority President and CEO Somer Hollingsworth said he hopes Foliot's presence will spur more expansion in Las Vegas.

"It could be a really important magnet for other manufacturing companies to come here," he said.

Contact reporter Caitlin McGarry at cmcgarry
@lvbusinesspress.com or 702-387-5273.