Furniture dealer finds right fit in Reno

Henriksen/Butler’s new showroom on First Street in the heart of downtown Reno follows company tradition.

“Part of our mission is to reuse and repurpose,” said Ian Anderson, president of H/B Nevada, who will be relocating from Las Vegas to Reno in April to manage the commercial furniture dealer’s new location.

“In Salt Lake City we’re in a 130-year-old synagogue. In Las Vegas we’re in a 60-year-old bread factory and in Boise we’re in the American Legion. It’s part of our brand.”

Recycling isn’t as simple as it sounds, though.

“The partners and I joke a lot about how it would be easier to and less expensive to go into a brand new space,” said Anderson.

That’s how Henriksen/Butler started in northern Nevada, in temporary digs in the U.S. Bank Building at Virginia and Liberty streets, while spending six months and $340,000 to remodel and outfit its new location in the nearly 80-year-old building on First Street.

Pinecrest Construction & Development Co. was the general contractor on the project designed by Tate Snyder Kimsey Architects.

The second-story, 1,900-square-foot Reno outlet is the 35-year-old company’s fifth and latest showroom. A 2,400 square-foot warehouse is located near the Reno-Tahoe International Airport.

“We don’t want to inventory a lot because everything is made to order,” said Anderson. “A chair can be specified a hundred different ways.”

Henriksen/Butler is one of 48 certified dealers for Herman Miller, the well-known maker of modern office furniture. The company represents more than 100 manufacturers, including Herman Miller Health Care, Geiger, Maharam, DIRTT, Spacesaver, Nemschoff, and InterfaceFlor.

Its customers include Zappos, Fidelity Investments and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and IGT, the State of Nevada and Banner Churchill Community Hospital in Fallon locally.

The Reno showroom and warehouse will employ five people, including Anderson.

Henriksen/Butler’s staff is excited about being close to Reno’s start-up row, just around the corner on Arlington Street.

The dealer focuses on commercial businesses, and provides interior design and project management services, but Anderson said the showroom won’t turn away the occasional individual buyer looking to furnish a home office.

“We had someone off the street the other day come in and say ‘How are you going to do any business up here on the second floor?’” said Anderson.