Sam Moore always admired the furniture reps who called on his dad and since he enjoyed people and was a born salesman he decided to try furniture repping. In his late 20's he had a chance to get 2 furniture lines. His first territory was Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. After about 8 years he decided he could make a better chair and sell it for less money than the line he was selling, so he resigned and with 4 friends bought the Delaware Chair Company in Delaware, Ohio for $15,000. This was in 1940. One of his partners was the advance man for Ringling Brothers/Barnum and Bailey Circus. It was a small plant, far from his suppliers and when World War II was looming he found himself in the midst of defense plants with federal contracts and rising costs. Wage scales exploded and soon he could not compete.

In early 1943 he found a vacant overall factory in Christiansburg, Virginia and pulled up stakes and moved south. Sam Moore Chair was born and the original Sam Moore Chair soon became an icon in our industry. It was a channel back, barrel chair with a solid mahogany frame which retailed for $39. "Double truck" ads were common, with Western Stickley tables on one side and Sam Moore Chairs on the other and a big $39 in the middle of the page. Macy's New York or Wannamakers in Philadelphia did not consider it a successful furniture sale unless police had to be stationed at the elevators and people could get off on the furniture floor m if an identical number got on the elevator. For years Sam Moore was the leading promotional chair resource in America. The company made 12 styles. They could all be cut from the same cutting pattern and were sold in car loads only-305 pieces to the car .Best estimates are that somewhere between 3 and 4 million of those chairs were sold between 1943 and 1973.

In April, 2007 Hooker Furniture Company acquired Sam Moore as part of a strategic goal to further diversify into fabric upholstery. In combination with sister company Bradington-Young; we will help Hooker Furniture grow its footprint in the upholstery sector and strengthen business with the designer distribution channel.

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