Who: Harold Laginikoro of National Hotel Liquidators.
What: A company that liquidates used hotel furniture, receives and installs new furniture, manages hotel inventories and stores goods in its warehouse. When a hotel has been sold, the new owners typically do at least a modest amount of remodeling — adding new carpets, new tables or beds. National Hotel Liquidators removes the old furniture, puts in new and sells what goods it can.
Where: 2216 36th St., Everett
Founded: November 2004 but added a 39,000-square-foot warehouse in May 2008.
Service area: Nationwide, but the company does a lot of work in the state.
Employees: Up to 10 workers
Challenge in last 12 months: Adding a new warehouse just a year ago both posed problems and created new opportunities for Laginikoro’s business. Just six months later, the recession set in and National Hotel Liquidators saw a downturn in business. However, Laginikoro has seen an upswing in requests since January.
Example of work: The company recently installed 885 televisions in the Westin Hotel in downtown Seattle.
Notable: Laginikoro, who is originally from Fiji, owned a landscaping business for more than eight years before making the leap into hotel liquidation. A deeply religious man, Laginikoro believes “life is ours to make it what we want it to be.”
Advice to other small business owners: “Do what you do best and stay in it no matter what comes.”
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