Samie Lim firm, Garant forge tie up

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine retailing icon Samie Lim and the Luxemburg-based Garant Group, which is present in over 22 countries worldwide, have signed a partnership venture, A. Sachi Garant that will help pursue Lim’s  mission of modernizing the country’s furniture retail industry.

A.Sachi, founded and chaired by Lim, is the mother company of Blims Lifestyle Group (BLG), which currently has four different store formats: Blims Fine Furniture, La-Z Boy, Sogo Home & Office Center and Cellini.

The Garant Group is a global marketing and service organization for furniture retailers. It has an annual group retail turnover amounting to more than P150 billion. It has gained extensive experience working with over 1, 000 suppliers.

Lim, an industry builder who organized the Philippine retailing and franchising sectors, said the marriage of A. Sachi and Garant Group, will provide the impetus for a modernized furniture retail industry in the country.

 A. Sachi-Garant, Lim said, will be going around the country to invite furniture retailers, especially the mom-and-pop stores, to convert their outlets to Garant outlets. These stores will then be upgraded as affiliated stores, including their design, layout and inventory. Their managers and staff will also get regular training from the Garant Academy.

 “Our target is to have 50 Garant affiliated stores in the country in five years,” Lim emphasized, adding that they will initially focus on price sensitive to mid-end furniture products.

Garant’s mission in the country includes providing the best selection of furniture items for the end-consumer lifestyles in markets, offering the best international product sources and trade channels for business partners and creating the best business solutions and guaranteed successful multi-channel marketing concepts for retail members. It has an annual group retail turnover amounting to more than P150 billion.

Josef Lauten, an architect who developed furniture designs for more than 400 suppliers in Germany during his time, established the global company in 1937 by. It is now managed by a group of experienced professionals led by Franz Hampel, Torsten Goldbecker and Christoph Hampel.