The custom closet and storage industry in North America is comprised of 20% closet franchises, such as giants California Closets and Closets by Design, and 80% by small, independent closet businesses, often locally owned and family operated.
National Closet Summit
Every October, The CIA (Closet Institute of America), conducts its Closet & Storage Summit (The Summit) in a different US city, where the independents gather to network and exchange best practices.
The Summit is the largest custom closet industry conference in the nation, often attracting over 200 attendees. This national event for the closet and organization industry will be meeting for its 9th year at the Sheraton Salt Lake City on October 19-21, 2022.
Closet Institute of America
CIA is an association of closet and storage professionals that allows members of the group to join its private website closetinstitute.org and have access to its many resources and bulletin boards to assist them in growing their businesses.
The CIA is the largest closet & storage industry trade group catering exclusively to independents - no franchises are permitted. These closet & storage professionals are comprised of 65% manufacturers (who fabricate their products in their own workshops) and 35% who outsource production to a local, regional or nationwide dealership network.
Statistics reveal that 81% of independent closet & storage professionals have a showroom that averages 1400 square feet and have been in business for over 20 years.
Summit Details
The Summit’s national event for these closet professionals is two full days of intensive woodworking-networking through seminars, round tables, discussion panels, and numerous social events. The conference is the only national event for the closet and organization industry that always includes a guided tour of a CIA member’s showroom facility and state-of-the-art manufacturing facility.
There, live demonstrations of active closet woodworking machines are on display, followed by a showroom tour, networking dinner, and belt sander races.
Between yearly Summits, the CIA’s private Facebook page is the closet & storage professionals 24/7/365 networking venue with thousands of posts and replies per year: facebook.com/groups/CIAClosetSummit
There are other associations of closet & storage professionals trade groups, but the Summit is the only one exclusively for the independent closet business community.
Other Networks & Events
There are also other national woodworking events and woodworking-networking conferences for closet & storage professionals throughout the year, but none specializes or targets the 80% of the industry that are mostly family-owned and locally operated independent of the franchise ‘mother-ships’. CIA members are dedicated to hometown service and attention to detail. They treat you like a neighbor because they are your neighbor.
The CIA’s closet trade group is comprised of veteran closet industry pioneers, entry level entrepreneurs, cabinet shops investigating expanding into the closet & storage industry, and even former California Closets and Closet by Design franchisees who are discovering the advantages of being an independent company. If you are in any way involved in the closet & storage industry and are seeking a woodworking network such as an association or trade group, the welcome mat is rolled out.
For further information, contact CIA Director Jeff Klein at Jeff@ ClosetSummit.com
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