Wholesale Furniture Brokers was one of the first companies to apply the ‘Click and Mortar’ strategy in the furniture industry. When the website was launched, Wholesale Furniture Brokers recruited independently owned furniture stores to become affiliates that would perform fulfillment and share in sales generated by the site. As delivery options have improved, Wholesale Furniture Brokers has decreased the involvement of local stores in favor of local delivery agents and direct to the customer shipping.
Wholesale Furniture Brokers started in July 2000 as a warehouse mattress outlet in Austin, TX under the name Zirnhelt Wholesale. It was named after its founder, Canadian businessman, Dave Zirnhelt. After a successful first year, he renamed the business to Wholesale Furniture Brokers to improve its marketability. Upon returning to Kamloops, BC, Canada in June 2002, Zirnhelt recruited Sergei Tashlikowich, a fellow graduate of the Bachelors of Business Administration program at the University College of the Cariboo, now known as Thompson Rivers University. In August 2002, Zirnhelt and Tashlikowich founded a new Canadian company by the same name to operate the online version of Wholesale Furniture Brokers.
