Jay Wagnon – President
Jay Wagnon was responsible for development of the Design Spree concept in 2007. An entrepreneur by nature and a furniture seller by chance, Jay has a passion for creating a unique customer experience. When approached for an investment opportunity in 2002, Jay entered the furniture business as a licensee of a Florida-based retailer of high-end furniture. Without prior experience in the category but with professional experience in building unique brand offerings, Jay eventually decided to leave the license relationship in 2007 and control his own destiny – thus, the Design Spree concept was born. An emphasis on building lasting customer relationships, variety and quality of merchandise, and a fun shopping environment would become the hallmarks of the Design Spree experience. In 1992, after receiving his MBA, Jay decided to pursue his entrepreneurial interests and opened a national bagel franchise in the Seattle market. After building a total of 46 locations, Jay’s desire to return to the east coast led him back to New York. Jay will continue to be intimately involved in the growth of the Design Spree brand. Jay, who lives in New York City, maintains his primary office at the Maywood, NJ Design Spree location.
Rich Pollock – Vice President
Richard Pollock was attending Penn State University in 1987 when he moved to West Palm Beach, Florida to pursue a career in restaurant management. It wasn’t long before he was flying to New Jersey for a weekend to apply for the Assistant Manager position in Princeton, New Jersey – Brandon’s of Princeton. A few days later he was moving to New Jersey where he quickly learned the ropes and was not only becoming an integral part of the managerial staff, but was delighting customers with his quick wit and knack for tasteful design. Within six months, Rich was promoted to Manager and he retained that position until 2002, when the store was purchased by NJ Capital Furnishings, LLC. At that time, he was promoted to General Manager of the 60,000 square foot showroom and warehouse facility that is known for selling some of finest quality furniture and accessories in the region. In 2007, the store was restructured to better meet the needs of the great customer relationships Rich helped to build. The name of the store was changed to Design Spree, and Rich was given the opportunity to become a partner in the business. Under his leadership, the store has grown to the point where a second location seemed the only logical move. In fall of 2011, Design Spree-Maywood will open its doors and Rich Pollock – having recently been promoted to Vice President – will oversee that location as well as the Princeton store.
Jared Azoff – General Manager, Maywood
Jared Azoff is a third generation furniture retailer, with expertise in assisting clients’ design needs and helping to create beautiful home environments. After graduating from S.U.N.Y at Albany with a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology, he entered into his family’s retail furniture operation in Yonkers, N.Y. which was created in 1959. Starting out assisting clients, he progressed into managing the showroom and staff, building a client driven sales team and then agreeing with a manufacturer to an exclusive licensed franchise operation. With his drive to expand the family endeavors, he helped launch a small one store operation into a 3 store franchise in the lower Hudson Valley. Choosing to do more for the local community besides bringing quality furniture and design assistance, Jared became a member of the Chamber of Commerce promoting local businesses and community projects to help people and children in need. He became a volunteer for the Shelter for Abused Children, playing Santa Claus during the holidays putting a smile on children’s faces. He donated furniture to the shelter for abused women trying to make their surroundings as comfortable as possible. Continuing to expand his horizons, Jared has partnered up with a unique, forward thinking, like -minded company bringing top-notch quality designer furniture to the community. By utilizing his knowledge of operations and the industry, together they will make an even bigger impact on the tri- state area.
Bob Grossman – General Manager, Lawrenceville
Bob Grossman was lucky enough to be born into the furniture business and became part of the fourth generation in a family retail furniture store. He started his career at the age of eight as a furniture polisher and ended as a partner, attending his first furniture market in 1955. After serving Philadelphia and the Main Line for over 105 years, the small mom and pop store closed its doors in 1994 due to the changing business climate. Since then Bob has worked in furniture management with Furniture Unlimited and Oskar Huber Furniture. He was involved in all aspects of the business including sales management, sales training and merchandising. For eleven years Bob was involved with managing the flag ship store of both chains. Bob graduated from Temple University with a BS in Marketing and became involved with the corporate end of the business developing a sales training forum for all new salespeople for Oskar Huber Furniture. Then, he moved into the corporate merchandise department developing store line-ups, measuring tools to track sales performance and also to keep the merchandise line-up consistent between all of the stores. After the Huber’s closed their business, Bob spent two years with Cricket Communications helping them launch their cell phone business in the Delaware Valley. Over the years, Bob has been very involved in community affairs, including: Main Line Chamber of Commerce (Board of Directors 1989-94), Ardmore Rotary (1976-1997), Ardmore Business Association (President, 1985-1989), and Co-founder of Ardmore Alliance (1989-1995). As furniture was his first and only love, he was lucky enough to be recommended to Design Spree last August. Bob feels like he is back in the family business again, and is proud to have become General Manager of the Lawrenceville location.