Colorado's Largest Chair Store
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"We Make People Happy One Seat At A Time"

The Chairman Asks:

Why buy chairs and bar stools from a tomato vendor?

Why buy chairs from a tomato vendor, asks The Chairman's Steve Farland. When you can choose from 8,500 chairs and bar stools in one venue?

You wouldn't go to The Chairman on Broadway to buy your onions, seasonings, or meat products. The Chairman doesn't have them. In fact, you'd go to your food supplier for the freshest, highest quality food items you need to satisfy your own standards and those of your restaurant clients. Then why, asks Steve Farland, owner of The Chairman, would anyone go to a food supplier to purchase their restaurant seating?

It's cause for thought. Something to sit down and think about.

It's cause for thought. Something to sit down and think about. Of course, you can get restaurant seating from your major supplier and from retail furniture shops or even through your interior designer. "The fact is that no one else does what we do, " says Farland. Considered a Denver institution, The Chairman has thousands of styles to choose from and 8,500 chairs in stock. Barstools, banquet seating, upholstered or leather chairs, armchairs or side chairs - The Chairman has seating to meet the style demands, budget and tastes of any restaurateur.

Goldilocks would have had a heyday here. Too hard, too soft, just right.

Goldilocks would have had a heyday here. Too hard, too soft, just right. Farland and his wife Barbara got into the business designing custom furnishings. Barbara has a back ground in interior design from Colorado Institute of Art. Their original plan was to build beds and tables out of steam pipe and granite (it was featured in the Edbrooke Lofts in Denver's Lodo and in Better Homes & Gardens Kitchen & Bath magazine.)

The Denver Buffalo Company

Then, The Denver Buffalo Company tapped the couple to build their custom chairs. Other restaurateurs started to call. The market for customized on highly specific seating was too limited to meet the expanding needs and requirements of innovative restaurateurs. Next thing, the Farlands were in the business.That was 12 years ago. Then six years ago, the couple purchased Majestic Furniture, the single manufacturing source for all of the Sears and Wards dinettes, also located in Denver. Situated in an 1895 firehouse on Broadway. The Chairman has furnished the chairs for the likes of the Broker restaurants, Applebee's, Vail Associates Eagle's Nest, and Coors Field. Enter The Chairman and you'll see lots more that places to sit. The showroom is surrounded by book shelves salvaged from the old Denver Public Library. the coors family boardroom table is for sale, plus unique and antique sinage. They sell more than chairs. Office furnishings abound. Two generous sized conference tables are currently for sale. But make sure your conference room is as big as you imagination - these are 8 X 26 feet and 6 X 18 feet.

"We're still in Colorado."

The Chairman is also known for its antique bars. "We're still in Colorado. This is where the pioneers and the gunfighters like a good bar, "says Farland. Farland recently supplied the antique 1800s bar for The High Tide, a new restaurant in Aurora. "We worked with fabulous restaurant owners who are visionaries and understand that spending money on one beautiful piece is well worth it."

The Chairman is the Factory Outlet

The Chairman is the factory outlet for Shafer, Colorado's largest seating manufacturer, in business in the state for more than 60 years.If there's a trend in restaurant seating today, says Farland, it's a return to Industrial Americana. "It's the Frank Lloyd Wright philosophy of honesty of materials. There's an added value to Americana and an appreciation for galvanized steel, timber and rawwoods...anything works with today;s decor from modern to French."

Honesty of Materials

That honesty of materials extends beyond the seating in the most cutting edge restaurants. "If they have a cement floor, they don't try to make it look like something it isn't. They paint and polish the cement to look like cement," says Farland." There is a place for something not real... that's Disneyland, " he continues. "It's a lot easier and less expensive to build something that is real vs. something that is not. An abundance of service, fabulous food and wonderful value delivered in a setting that does not overwhelm is today's look in restaurants. Save the others, the Disneyland dining, for Disneyland. " While Walt Disney was a visionary, Steve Farland takes the visionary experience one step further to a practical, applicable level. Farland has worked with longstanding restaurants like The Broker since day one. Owner Ed Novak buys all of his chairs from Farland for all four locations - The Broker (Downtown Denver), the DTC Broker, the Boulder Broker Inn, and the Airport Broker.

"I liked the personality involved, "says Novak of Farland. "I like his directness, his honesty, the way he does business, and I like his price. Steve definitely concentrates on customer service. And I want to do business with people who want to do business...like Steve.

CHAIRS AND MORE - The chairman has everything you could want in your restaurant or office, including massive conference tables, some with a rich history of having used in the offices of prominent Denverites Steve Farland has collected the unusual in decorative items to complement any restaurant design.

Tap Room and the Sanctuary in Vail

Outside of Denver, clients are just as enthusiastic about the Chairman as they are in Denver proper. Steve Kaufman is the owner of The Tap Room and the Sanctuary in Vail, and upscale watering hole in the former Vail Village Club at the vase of the mountain. Farland furnished The Tap Room which opened in 1999. "I have always gotten the quickest response and the best deals from Steve," says Kaufman. "In this business, there are a lot of times we do things for which we don't plan ahead." Farland has expedited delivery when Kaufman needed it most. In fact, when the specialty bar stools that Kaufman desired for the Tap Room weren't available soon enough for him to open on schedule, Farland shipped him barstools to use in the interim. "That's service," adds Kaufman. When Kaufman opened the Sanctuary, on the third and fourth floors of the Tap Room building, he completely furnished the place with product by The Chairman, imported Italian fixtures and lighting. The result has been reviewed as ''the sleekest new club and lounge in Vail featuring an intimate VIP room, a stylish cocktail bar and extraordinary dance floor." the very modem appeal of the furnishings is the ideal juxtaposition to the multi-million dollar carved woodwork that surrounds the walls of the Sanctuary.

Such customization is what The Chairman does every day. "A business survives because it is either a convenience or because it becomes a destination because it offers the unusual, " says Farland. He insists upon offering the unusual coupled with extraordinary customer service.

Farland tells the story of walking into the Breckenridge Brewery on a Sunday. The brew Pub - the first in Denver - was yet under construction. Farland encountered a guy hosing down the floor cleaning the place up. "I told him 'I'm going to be selling chairs to this place' and it turns out it was Richard Squire the founder, " he recalls. The two became friends and business associates with Farland indeed selling seating to Breckenridge Brewery just as he had vowed.He has aligned himself again with Colorado's preeminent restaurateurs providing chairs, bars and furnishings for some of the greatest names in the restaurant biz. And he's done it through hard work, perseverance, and a passion for doing things well.

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