iDealBUY’s Larry Kozin Brings His Furniture Heritage and Entrepreneurial Flair to BrandSource

Larry Kozin, principal of iDealBUY and a newly minted member of BrandSource, has lived his life in the furniture business. Kozin started out unloading trucks at his dad’s furniture store, learned the art of selling at the Art Van furniture chain, and was later mentored by vendor Henry Kraus of Electropedic Beds, for whom he traveled as a sales rep. When Kozin and his wife Angie were expecting their son, Kraus put up the funding for a store of their own in Los Angeles. (Not surprisingly, 38 years later, son Daniel owns and operates Furniture Factory, a thriving furniture showroom in Laguna Hills, Calif.) It was eight years ago, however, that Kozin decided it was time to grow, and partnered with national expansion expert John Bellave to launch the New Economy Marketing Group. The holding company, a regular on Inc. magazine’s “Inc. 5000” list of fastest-growing privately-held businesses, has created hundreds of independently owned “furniture broker” locations around the country under the iDealFurniture, KozyFurniture and PerfectDreamer Sleep Shop brands, the latter based on Kozin’s private-label mattress line. Kozin’s latest iDealBUY business began with a focus on low- to mid-priced furniture, including the PerfectDreamer assortment. It has since evolved to include consumer electronics, home office and fitness equipment — all supported by a network of home-based consultants who work on straight commission to drive business to iDealBUY locations and a forthcoming website, now under construction by AVB Marketing. Kozin said he had considered warehousing appliances and electronics, but the more he learned about BrandSource, the more he realized that our organization was the “perfect buying group to help with our national expansion, leveraging technology and access to more products and the lowest wholesale prices.” Kozin is a staunch supporter of small business and, believing that large retailers have undue sway over manufacturers, launched an effort to help mom-and-pops “survive and thrive” in the New Economy by joining forces with other like-minded businesspeople. He stands firmly behind BrandSource’s maxim of “Stronger together,” which is all the more reason we welcome iDealBUY into the fold. BrandSource is a unit of YSN publisher AVB Inc.