J.TYLER MAKES NATIONAL NEWS

March 3, 2008

Houston based J.Tyler Office Furniture & Services made national news this past year when they were recruited to become the exclusive Select Dealer in the Houston market for Kimball Office, the highly respected office furniture division of Kimball International, a $1.5 billion dollar manufacturer consortium. Changing major suppliers is a rare occurrence for a successful contract furniture dealer since you invest years in establishing a customer base with those lines of products. J.Tyler became somewhat of a lighting rod to other contract dealers across the country with their decision to do so. Since then, there have been almost a dozen other top producing dealers make moves to the Kimball Office Select Dealer program.

“We are very proud of the organization we have built over our 25 year history. Being sought after by our industry’s most respected manufacturers is very gratifying. It shows all our hard work is paying off,” says Jennifer Longbotham, President, CEO and majority owner of J.Tyler.

Because of their growth, reputation for excellent service and success in the market, J.Tyler was approached by numerous major manufacturers to represent their products. After a lengthy evaluation J.Tyler chose a new alignment with Kimball Office. Having been the top producing dealer for Allsteel, HON, Paoli and Gunlocke in the Houston market, J.Tyler transitioned quickly to what has become a very successful alliance with Kimball Office and National, another leading office furniture supplier of Kimball International which focuses on the mid-market and proceeded to strengthen an already solid relationship with their other partner manufacturers.

“It has been a fantastic marriage. Kimball makes outstanding leading edge furnishings and National is a major player in the industry of high value mid-market casegoods and seating. Both are greatly respected, consistent performers and provide exceptional customer service,” states Gary Longbotham, Executive Vice President of Business Development and co-owner.

He also states, “We have been particularly pleased with their strength and acceptance of the Kimball name with the large corporate users and the architectural design community. It has been a noticeable improvement with our change-over.”

Linn Energy, a highly respected major oil and gas company selected J.Tyler and Kimball over numerous other high image manufacturers and contract dealers to furnish their new corporate headquarters in Houston. In cooperation with Burwell Architects, J.Tyler provided Kimball furnishings to create a beautiful and highly functional space. As is J.Tyler’s trademark, the project was brought in complete, on time and in budget. Bill Burwell, principal of Burwell Architects, has stated that Kimball Office has a unique combination of high quality products that no other manufacturer can match in consistency of design from the open plan clerical areas to the executive office, from workstations to desking to seating.

Additionally, J. Tyler has since been awarded numerous other high profile projects taking advantage of the arsenal of Kimball Office products. The most notable of which is a current $10,000,000.00 Houston project which was the culmination of intense competition, over three years requiring extremely thorough evaluation by the client, their national and regional offices and their project architects. J.Tyler was awarded the project with Kimball’s Xsite system and in combination with other J.Tyler partner manufacturers like National, Humanscale, HON, Fixtures and Arcadia. It appears J.Tyler’s transition to Kimball is not only newsworthy for its boldness, but has turned to stellar increases in new business for both parties.

Success is proof positive of the significance of the new partnership. Once again, J.Tyler is named to the Houston Business Journal’s Top Office Furniture Dealers list and has logged another year of double digit growth. With 25 years of history in the Houston, national and international markets, J.Tyler has a solid footing in the contract furniture industry. Already having the largest dealer showroom in Houston, they are in the process of inking a deal for the purchase of a new headquarters and showroom building that will enable them to triple the size and capability of their firm over the coming years.