The Company

Greenpoint Furniture, Inc. is a retailer specializing in sleep systems and European style furniture. The company was founded in May 1995 when the current owner, John Byron Galliano, purchased a store formerly known as Dial- a- Mattress.

Greenpoint Furniture has 2 locations, both located on Manhattan Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. One location is solely retail, (820 Manhattan Ave.) while the other functions as both a warehouse and retail outlet (1078 Manhattan Ave.). Customer care is provided both at the physical stores, from stock or manufacturers' catalogs, as well as through the website: www.greenpointfurniture.com. Deliveries are made by one of the company's trucks within the tri –state area or by common carrier nationwide.

Greenpoint Furniture, Inc. has established itself as a dependable and reliable company and is steeped in a history that brought it from a little known to a well-known and respected member of the business community. For the past 12 years, paralleling the growth of the neighborhood, the company has stayed committed to its slogan: “Furniture for every room in your home” and has transformed itself from a mattress shop, to a full range provider of all products for the unique living environment. The variety of furniture available lends itself to all facets of the New York home, be it a house, condo, or apartment. The product line incorporates items from domestic manufacturers, many from the tri-state area, to designs from around the world, encompassing virtually every sense of style, quality and standard.

The company differentiates itself from the competition by some very simple, but poignant philosophies and practices that can be traced directly to the CEO, John Byron. Byron, who, to match the flavor of the neighborhood, speaks English, Polish, Spanish and Italian fluently, has married his European sense of style with quality products and unparalleled service. Unlike most European importers, merchandise is most often delivered in a day or two and comes fully assembled. Plus, Greenpoint Furniture's website offers all the convenience of shopping online with one huge difference. Humans. Online customers can inquire about products by email or phone and receive a response from Byron himself, or one of his colleagues, typically within an hour or two.

The store is located in the heart of the historical Greenpoint district, the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bordered on the southwest by Williamsburg, on the southeast by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, on the north by the Pulaski Bridge which leads to Long Island City, Queens, and on the west by the East River. Surrounded by waterways on three borders, this waterfront neighborhood is a stones throw from both Manhattan and Queens. Because of it strategic location, Greenpoint Furniture has an uncanny ablility to service customers all over NYC.

Greenpoint History

In 1638 the Dutch West Indian Company negotiated the purchase of Greenpoint from the Keshaechqueren Indians. In 1775 Green Point was still in the possession of the British and in 1790 Ferry Service was established. Greenpoint was dominated by the two competing ferry operators that carried farm products to markets in Lower
Manhattan. Each ferry established an independent series of gated roads leading to their ferries.

In 1834 Neziah Bliss had all of Green Point surveyed and laid out into streets and lots marking Greenpoints monumental transition from farm community, to village, to town, and in1838 The first public highway was opened in Green Point. It connected the town with bridges across Newton and Bushwick Creek's to the cities of Astoria to theNorth, and Williamsburg the South.

By 1840, ship building became the foremost industry and by 1861 Abraham Lincoln signed an order to construct the Monitor, the frst of The Union's Ironclad ships in the Civil War. It was built by Continental Iron Works at Calyer and West Street in 101 days.

In 1867, wealthy industrialist Charles Pratt built the first modern oil refinery in the US on the banks of the Newtown Creek - Standard Oil Refineries - producers of Astral oil. Unfortunately, in 1930, Astral Oil Company was consumed in a spectacular blaze.

Later that century, The Cardinal of Krakow, Poland, Cardinal Wojtyla, visited Greenpoint. On April 15, 1978, Cardinal Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II. In 1979, he returned to Greenpoint as Pope and visited St. Stan's Church on Driggs Ave.

In 1982, the City of New York confirmed Greenpoint's small designated Historic District, but this was only the beginning of commerce to come.

In April 1994, the City sold the 100-year-old Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center (GMDC), at 1155 Manhattan Avenue, to GMDC Local Development Corporation (LDC). The City sold the property and the LDC utilized funds from City-assisted programs for the rehabilitation and environmental clean up of the 360,000 square-foot, eight building industrial complex. By 1999 the GMDC was back on the City tax rolls and home to 68 City manufacturers and 360 manufacturing jobs.

Finally, on May 11, 2005, the New York City Council passed a large-scale rezoning of the Greenpoint and Northside waterfront from manufacturing to residential and mixed use, while setting aside $100 million in funding for the creation of open waterfront park space, with a two-mile-long esplanade to be built in segments. The land is being rezoned to permit new housing, where luxury highrises could be developed along with low-rise subsidized housing as part of the plan's inclusionary housing strategy. The rezoned waterfront will also include retail, a 28-acre waterfront park, and a continuous riverfront promenade. The rezoning is part of a continuing process of revitalization in the area, which was once characterized by manufacturing and other light industry interspersed with smaller residential buildings. It now contains over a hundred residentially converted loft buildings and new residential buildings. The rezoning is projected to result in the creation of about 10,000 new apartments in about 10 years.

With this shot in the arm, together with its location and charming appeal, Greenpoint is quickly attracting new dwellers. This migration, and its accompanying realestate development, have created a growing, thriving community fostering healthy opportunities for local businesses and residents alike. The neighborhood has made the shift from a manufacturing based industrial era community, to the modern era and now is markedly moving into post modernism, all the while managing to maintain it's cutural diversity. Greenpoint has become the “poster child” for for multiculturalism and we at Greenpoint Furniture, with a product line and staff as diverse as our neigborhood, are proud to be part of this tradition.