By Heather Graves
Editor

ASHWAUBENON – WG&R Furniture’s founding owners – Henry Wagnitz, Paul Greene, Carl Greene and Henry Rupp – first opened the doors on Main Street in Green Bay in 1946 with the slogan “A mile from downtown, ’tis true, but a mile from high prices, too.”

Three generations and 75 years later, the slogan has changed – now “Your Style for Less” – but its core principle focused on taking care of the customer, CEO Jim Greene said, has always held true.

As the family-owned company celebrates seven-and-a-half decades in business, it looks toward the future, and a change in ownership.

Greene announced he has sold the furniture company to its hundreds of employees under an employee stock ownership plan (or ESOP).

“Becoming an ESOP and placing our future in the hands of our tremendous employees, will ensure the continued success of the company and culture we’ve built over the past several decades,” Greene said.

An ESOP is an employee benefit plan that gives workers ownership interest in the company.

ESOPs are overseen by a trustee who becomes the shareholder of record for the company stock held by the ESOP.

“Technically it is owned by the Employee Stock Ownership Trust, or ESOT,” Greene said. “The voting shares of the company are voted on by a trustee. That being said, I am going to continue on as CEO, and the current leadership will remain in their current positions for the foreseeable future.”

He said one of the biggest benefits of an ESOP is an employee contribution isn’t required to participate in the plan.

“At the end of the day, an ESOP is a defined benefits plan,” he said. “So, (it’s) similar to a 401K. And so, (employees) will notice a difference in us putting a lot of emphasis on trying to create an ownership culture, and an ownership mindset.”

Greene said selling to an ESOP was the best option for company transition that fits with its established culture.

“One of the key components of a highly-functioning team is what is referred to as ‘shared fate,’” he said. “ESOPs are ultimate in economic shared fate for employee participation, or I believe that. So, it was attractive to me for that reason.”

Greene said it also helps preserve the company’s legacy.

“It was important to me that the company remain headquartered in Green Bay,” he said. “I wanted to continue to participate in the management of the company, and I want employees to be able to maximize their economic potential working at the company.”

Greene said WG&R’s mantra has always been to be world-class in the eyes of its customers and among each other.

“We put a lot of effort into living that culture,” he said, “and I think that is a big differentiator of who we are.”

The company has seen much growth over the years – expanding from its one store in Green Bay to a total of six WG&R Furniture locations and three standalone WG&R Sleep Shop locations across Northeast Wisconsin.

They also have a WG&R Mattress Factory in Two Rivers.