FURNITURE: Two Into One

For years, Chicago’s International Furniture Co. and S. Karpen & Bros, have been at the top in their fields. International, which had 1950 sales of $13 million, plugs its popular-priced lines through such national outlets as Montgomery Ward & Co. and Sears, Roebuck and Co. Karpen, on the other hand, has always catered to the luxury trade (1950 sales: $8,000,000).

Last week the Cadillac and the Chevrolet of the furniture business got together. For $3,500,000, said International’s Top Man Jay Levine, he and associates had bought the inventory and physical assets of the Karpen Co. Levine, who bought control of International only last fall, does not plan to lie back on his chaise longue now. Said he: “If I have anything to do with it, we’ll be the biggest thing in the furniture business within a few years. We’re out to expand.”