National furniture giant celebrates 100th

Leon's Furniture stores across the country are not suffering from the current economic recession too badly because they took preparatory measures as signs loomed ahead last year, the retail chain's president Terry Leon said after making an appearance at the company's Dorval store during a whirlwind national tour to celebrate Leon's 100th anniversary. "I think we were prepared for it," Leon said. "We saw it coming. We had started to pare our expenses about 18 months before it started," he added.

He added that retail stores should be working harder to keep doing well. In his company's case, the recession's timing coincided with planned promotions and discounts for the 100th anniversary, he said, so that worked out well.

Leon appeared in Dorval last Wednesday, where staff had redecorated the store with balloons and other touches. Local politicians and charity organization executives also attended the celebration, with the latter thanking the company for making donations to help out. "The Lakeshore General Hospital's ICU waiting room is no longer a mere waiting room," said the LGH Foundation's president Silvana Orrino, adding the furniture store donated furniture to spruce up the area and make it much more comfortable.

Leon's kicked off 100 years ago when Terry Leon's great-grandfather, Ablan Leon, bought a mattress as a wedding gift to his son. Too big to fit inside the dry goods store Leon owned back then, it was set aside on the street nearby. A passersby offered to buy it for more than Leon had paid, and that marked the birth of the furniture store. <@Cp>Chronicle, Raffy Boudjikanian<@$p>