Larry Queen is king at Britannica Home

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 11/19/2001 12:00:00 AM

New York — Two weeks after resigning from his post at Sleep Innovations, Larry Queen has quickly resurfaced at Britannica Home Fashions as president and coo.

Queen, an industry veteran who has worked for Arley Corp. and most recently as executive vp for Sleep Innovations, is hoping to expand the market presence of the 25-year-old company that has several overseas offices and imports from Asia.

"I'm looking to grow it a little bit," Queen said. "We're looking at everything that's available from an import standpoint, but we're really looking to develop extremely different and unique products through packaging concepts, the products themselves or preferably through a combination of both."

He said Britannica is looking to get into bagged bedding ensembles, bagged quilt ensembles, bagged bedspread ensembles, flannels and various sheet constructions, including higher thread counts than the company currently manufactures. There is also the possibility of tying Britannica Home Fashions with the company's glassware division, Dragoneer, through a new line of tabletop items. The quilt category will continue to be a major focus for the company as well, Queen also said. However, the quilt designs would take a definite turn away from the traditional pineapple and wedding ring patterns.

"We're definitely going to come in with our guns loaded for April market," Queen said about the debut of products under his direction. There are plans, however, to roll out a new, innovative concept by as early as mid-December, he added.

Queen said his attraction to Britannica stems from the freedom he was offered by Harry Gross, the owner, chairman and ceo of Britannica, to help the company grow and expand beyond its current market share.

"I thought that with my experience and background, there was a good fit here, and they've really given me the opportunity to do what I want," Queen said.

He also cited the design staff, infrastructure and import offices as being "second to none."

"We want to grow the business. If it takes noise to grow it, I guess we'll be noisy," he said.