Stanley Black Heavy Wood Marble Topped Foyer/Dining Room Credenza with Three (3) Drawers

Stanley Furniture was founded in April 1924 by Thomas Bahnson Stanley, who later became Governor of Virginia. Stanley learned the furniture business from his father-in-law, John D. Bassett, who had founded and owned Bassett Furniture in Bassett, Virginia.

In 1994, Stanley entered into the upholstered furniture business after focusing on non-upholstered, wood residential furniture for most of its sixty-year history.[4] The company came out with a Norman Rockwell-inspired collection during this period that was well-received. The collection incorporated 21 of Rockwell's magazine covers into the pieces themselves and sold not just the furniture but also the fabric from the collection for the first time in the company's history.[5]

Despite the success of the Rockwell collection, Stanley Furniture phased out their upholstered furniture business in 1998 and refocused on wood furniture. With its focus solely on wood furniture, Stanley opened a new, 300,000-square-foot facility in Martinsville, Virginia in March 2000.[4]

In late 2003, Stanley Furniture joined Vaughan-Bassett Furniture, Bassett Furniture and 20 other furniture manufacturers in filing an anti-dumping petition with the U.S. Government.[6][7]The petition was intended to aid the companies in collecting duties against Chinese furniture manufacturers they suspected were selling products in the U.S. for less than fair value. Through a series of investigations, the Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission determined that the claims were valid under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000,[6] and all 23 U.S.-based furniture manufacturers received monetary compensation funded by duties placed on Chinese furniture manufacturers. Stanley received the largest disbursement.[7]

In 2009, Stanley announced that the manufacturing of its "Young America" line of furniture would be moved to the United States, primarily its North Carolina and Virginia factories.[citation needed] This same year, R. Glenn Prillaman took the reins as president and CEO of the company.

In 2010, the firm announced that it would close its Stanleytown[1] manufacturing operation, laying off 530 workers and converting the former factory into a warehouse and distribution center. Over the next few years, this facility was phased out as well and was soon shuttered.[8] In 2012, Stanley announced it was relocating its headquarters to High Point, NC.

In April 2014, the company announced it would close its Robbinsville, North Carolina plant, laying off 400 workers; the closure was in spite of the $9 million it had recently invested in the plant when the company had moved manufacturing of its "Young America" furniture line from China to Robbinsville.[9]

In November 2017, after years of struggling to return to profitability, Stanley Furniture agreed to be sold to Churchill Downs, LLC, a private Vietnamese industry group.[10] Shortly after the sale was announced, Glenn Prillaman resigned from his role as CEO and President. Prillaman was replaced on an interim basis by Matt Smith, managing director of the Finley Group.[11]In March 2018, the sale to Churchill Downs, LLC was finalized making Walter Blocker the company's new owner. Blocker serves as chairman of the Vietnam Trade Alliance based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.[12]

Following completion of the sale, Richard Ledger was named as CEO and Adam Tilley was named as president. Both Ledger and Tilley previously worked for Stanley as VP of Operations and VP of Product, respectively.[13][14]