Do you have a home library? Do you have piles and piles of books, and nowhere to put them? Or maybe you just need to add an air of sophistication to your home. Well, no matter what the reason, you’re in the market for a bookcase, and you want one that was made in the USA. The only problem is, you don’t know where to find one.
Well, wonder no longer, because in this article I’m going to tell you all you need to know about where to find bookcases that have been manufactured in the United States of America.
Which Companies Sell Bookcases Made in America (The Short Answer)
I’ve done some digging, and found 6 different brands that manufacture bookcases in the United States of America. Those are Archbold Furniture, BookcasesPLUS, Hale Bookcases, Modern Office, Urban Wood Goods, and Vermont Woods Studios. With such a wide range of companies to choose from, you shouldn’t have any difficulty finding something that matches your tastes exactly.
American-Made Bookcases (6 Brands to Choose From)
Six companies is certainly a lot more than I expected to find! With so many companies to choose from, you’ll be able to find everything, from the cheap to the very expensive, to the rustic to the sleek, and the stylish to the downright weird.
Archbold Furniture
I wasn’t able to find too much information on this one, but it definitely manufactures its bookcases in the United States! The first company on our list, Archbold Furniture was founded well over a hundred years ago, in 1900. The company is currently located on 733 West Barre Road in Archbold, Ohio, and boasts a 110,000-square-foot factory and warehouse. As of 2010, they entered into an association with an Amish finisher. All of its finishes are applied by Amish woodworkers.
I’ve chosen the three bookcases below to showcase here because I think they give you a good idea of the kind of style that this company provides. Nothing too fancy here. It’s all very minimal and functional—maybe even rustic, depending on what you choose. I really like the option presented in the last link. The company allows you to select two or more bookcases from which to create a larger piece of furniture.
BookcasesPLUS
Alright, I’m going to address the elephant in the room right away: this is one of the oldest company websites I’ve ever seen. Oddly enough, despite looking like it’s from the early 2000s, the website does have an SSL certificate.
Anyway, I’ve had a tough time tracking down some of its information. For example, I can’t find a clear indication of when exactly the company was founded, but it is listed as having held the copyright for “BookcasesPLUS” since 2013, so there’s a good chance that is the year the company was registered. The company founder has apparently won awards in Philadelphia for his expertise in woodworking and carpentry skills.
You can view examples of the kind of stuff the company manufactures on its website, but you cannot order anything directly online. Instead, you will have to call the company and tell the staff what you want. Much of what they offer is custom-built. The website does confirm that all of their furniture is produced in the United States.
Hale Bookcases
Hale Manufacturing not only builds all of its products in the United States, it sources all of its materials from the United States as well. The staff are quite proud of it—they make this a huge selling point on their website. The manufacturing operations are located in Mohawk Valley, New York State. The company asserts that it is committed to environmentalism, and notes that it does maintain Forest Stewardship Council Certification.
For those who are unaware, Forest Stewardship Council Certification indicates that the timber in question has been sourced in an ethical, sustainable, environmentally conscious way. In particular, the timber must satisfy 10 principles. Those principles include, for example, compliance with all relevant laws, respect for indigenous people’s rights, respect for workers’ rights, efficient use of forest products, conservation of the environment, and sufficient monitoring to evaluate the health and condition of the forest in question, to name a few.
One of the most interesting things about this company is the product! Hale Manufacturing’s products are modular. These guys produce individual parts of bookcases and give you the power to piece together a unique piece of furniture that you can enjoy from those pieces. Definitely give the links I’ve provided a look!
Heritage Collection Standard Depth Units
Millennium Collection Standard Depth Units
Modern Office
Like many of the other companies on this list, Modern Office is quite a small operation. The company is family-owned and has been in operation for almost fifty years. It claims to have provided more than 100,000 buyers with furniture.
The company is located in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. As you can see from the product pictures (example posted above), the products are listed as being made in the United States, so this company is definitely a safe choice to purchase from.
Modern Office produces a pretty wide range of office-related furniture (who would have guessed?), and I’ve chosen two products that are definitively listed as being made in the United States. It’s a bit tricky though—the label only shows up on a picture that pops up as a suggestion on other product pages.
33″W x 48″H Traditional Real Oak Bookcases
33″W x 48″H Contemporary Real Oak Bookcases
Urban Wood Goods
Urban Wood Goods is one of the more interesting companies on this list. It produces its furniture entirely out of old-growth wood. Now, you may be thinking “wow, that sounds terrible”, because old-growth trees are increasingly rare, and always very important to the ecosystems they inhabit.
However, hold it right there! The old-growth wood that Urban Wood Goods uses to build its furniture isn’t sourced from living trees. Rather, the company reclaims the wood from older products and buildings and reuses it.
Urban Wood Goods has been on the market for 10 years and was founded by Erin True. That is another notable aspect of this company—it is the only company on this list that I was able to confirm is owned by a woman. Anyway, in keeping with its environmentalist spirit, Urban Wood Goods donates 1% of its sales to the Rainforest Action Network. The company is based in Gurnee, Illinois, and all of its products are made there.
The products I’ve linked to below will give you a good idea of the kind of stuff Urban Wood Goods makes. It’s all very industrial. Personally, it’s not my style, but you might like it! At the very least, they are certainly very different from the bookcases on offer on the other websites in this article.
Vermont Woods Studios
I’ve saved my favorite company for last. I absolutely love this one. Vermont Woods Studios expresses a clear commitment to environmentalism right on its website. All of the furniture the company manufactures is produced from sustainably sourced hardwood timber, and the company has also planted more than 160,000 trees as part of an effort to reforest both the Amazon and other forests where illegal deforestation remains a major problem.
In particular, Vermont Woods Studios sources its timber from North American forests. The company states on its website that “the wood is harvested in a manner that protects animal habitats, [while also taking] into consideration the long-term health of the forests,” and I love it.
The company has made a conscious decision to manufacture its furniture only from woods that commonly grow in North America, so in addition to saving the forests, you’ll also be buying furniture that was made with a reduced carbon footprint compared to companies that ship their timber from around the world.
The company was founded in 2005 by a husband and wife team. It currently employs a bit more than twelve people and is headquartered in a renovated farmhouse and barn which was originally built in the 18th century.
