Johnny Janosik achieves Retailer of the Year recognition

Under the leadership of Chairman David Koehler, Johnny Janosik was recognized with a Retailer of the Year Award from the International Home Furnishings Representatives Association. The award recognizes the home furnishings industry’s highest achievers.

With his father being a longtime Sears and Roebuck store manager, Koehler grew up in a retail household. He spent time as a boy helping with filing, inventories and other miscellaneous tasks, and worked through high school and college at another Sears location.

After graduating from High Point College in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and economics, plus a concentration in management and a minor in home furnishings marketing, Koehler was recruited into the management training program at Havertys Furniture. Over the next 21 years, he moved seven times and had 10 different assignments including Texas regional manager and assistant vice president of operations at the corporate offices.

During his time in Atlanta, he received a certification in finance and accounting for non-financial managers from Georgia Institute of Technology. He served for several years on the board of the Georgia Home Furnishings Association.

After a long career at Havertys, Koehler decided it was time to venture into the wholesale side of the business, and he went to work with La-Z-Boy Residential as vice president of regional sales in Dallas. During his tenure with La-Z-Boy, the opportunity surfaced to return to his home state of Delaware and take the reins as CEO of Johnny Janosik. The opportunity to be closer to his parents and family, in addition to the desire to return to the retail side of the business and exercise the 21 years of training he gained at Havertys, was a compelling combination, and he accepted the new challenge in July 2007.

The next several years were challenging, with the economic meltdown of 2008-09 weighing heavily on the furniture industry. Johnny Janosik had just opened a new 180,000-square-foot store in 2006. Koehler and the team at Johnny Janosik reacted quickly to make difficult decisions, and the company emerged from the crisis and began its growth track to become No. 85 on the top 100 furniture stores rankings.

In 2012, Lori Janosik-Morrison granted Koehler an ownership stake in the business. Since then, the company has been a leader in embracing new categories such as outdoor, and new channels like contract and design. Efforts have also gone into growing the online business, while staying focused on the customer experience and customer service commitment through the brick-and-mortar stores. The company built a new state-of-the-art store in Dover in 2017 to replace its older nearby locations, and expanded with two new stores in the Wilmington market in 2018.

Koehler has served as board president of the Furniture Marketing Group; he also serves on the board of the Home Furnishings Association and was recognized as HFA Trailblazer of the Year in 2020.

Koehler currently serves as chairman, partnering with Lori Janosik Morrison and the rest of the Johnny Janosik team to continue striving for improvement, growth and excellence. Under his guidance, Johnny Janosik was also added to Furniture Today’s Top 100 Retailer list.