In 1983, Gérard Pitance, a Belgian industrial designer and today owner of the  Stûv company, couldn’t find a stove for his own house, at least one that met his requirements (heat and design); he decided to make one instead, the Stûv 60. It remains in the line today.

Belgium-based Stûv now has 120 employees, and manufactures approximately 15,000 wood-burning stoves and fireplaces a year that are sold throughout Europe by its 500 dealers and distributors.

Distribution is dealer-direct in Belgium and in countries closest to Belgium – France, Holland and Germany. Import agents, similar to our distributors in North America, take care of other countries – one import agent per country.

Photo: ©2014 MCM PHOTO. www.mcmphoto.ca Nadia Gilbert with the Stûv Compact H (left) and the Stûv 30 (right), which can be used as an open fire, with the glass door or with a closed door.

In 2007, an enterprising Canadian couple – Vincent Boudreau and Nadia Gilbert – noticed the Stûv line and paid a visit to its factory in Belgium. When they left, it was as North American importers of Stûv products that, at the time, were strictly wood-burning stoves and fireplaces.

Through the years, their success impressed company owners. Boudreau and Gilbert had set up a showroom, office and warehouse, plus close to 40 dealers primarily in Canada, and the product was selling through quite well.

In 2013, after being with Stûv for 14 years and in charge of Sales and Marketing, Francois Thiry departed Belgium with his wife and three children to take up residence in Montreal, Canada. His job was to set up a subsidiary of the main company, and to identify and partner with distributors and dealers throughout North America.

Thiry’s task is to build a substantial, and profitable, business 3,000 miles from the parent company; his titles are CEO and vice president of Stûv America.

Hearth & Home spoke with him toward the latter part of October.

Hearth & Home: Describe for us where you are in your job of making Stûv a success here in North America.

Francois Thiry: “Here, I take care of the subsidiary, which actually is importing all the fireplaces and stoves into Montreal. For the east of Canada and the northeast of the United States (Quebec, Ontario, Maritime Provinces, New England and the Mid-Atlantic states), I work through one distributor called Stûv America Northeast. The owner of that company is Vincent Boudreau. He started importing Stûv products about seven years ago.

“So the situation is that we have the subsidiary in Montreal. We have one distributor for the northeast of America and I have just closed with another distributor, a company called Wheatland Fireplace, and they distribute to Saskatchewan and Manitoba. I will be meeting with more distributors over the coming months.”

What do you consider your main skills? Is it in manufacturing products? Is it in logistics? Is it in selling? Or are you a man of many talents?

Thiry: “I have worked for 15 years for the company in Belgium, and was responsible for managing the Sales and Marketing team. That was my main concern for all those years, managing things through distributors and dealers in Europe. When we decided to open this subsidiary, the important thing was that I am able to organize things because my job now is not only focused on Sales and Marketing, but it is taking care of all the logistics and then organizing a close partnership with distributors.

“Today, I would say that my job is mainly organization. It’s to present all the advantages of the product in an interesting way to the active players here in America. It involves a lot of diversity.

“The company here in America is very small, and my day may involve unloading a truck in the morning and, in the afternoon, trying to get things together in the accounting department then going to meet some dealers. To do all that requires organization.”

The Stûv gas B-fire HR.

Are you manufacturing the stoves and fireplaces in Montreal, or is the parent company shipping you parts and you’re doing the assembly?

Thiry: “We are not manufacturing anything here in America. Around half of the products are made 100 percent in Belgium, and arrive ready to sell for the American market. But the other 50 percent of the products that we import require some adaptation due to the American regulations.”

Previously, you mentioned that you have a showroom right where the warehouse is located.

Thiry: “That is the case. We have around 80 percent of the range physically present in our showroom, connected and burning. But the main idea of that showroom is to be a training center, to have our dealers there to show them about the product and to explain how they should demonstrate it to consumers.”

How many dealers do you have now?

Thiry: “We have around 50, with about 10 in the States and the rest in Canada.”

How well are the products moving through the dealers to the consumers? With dealers that have been selling Stûv for a number of years, are they selling five, 25 or 50 units a year? Do you have those numbers?

Thiry: “Yes. Our dealers that have been selling the product, at least for five years, sell between 15 and 20 units a year. The thing I need to underline is that, through last year, we had a range of six wood-burning fireplaces; now we have a range of 23 products on the market since last month. That will have a positive effect on sales. Dealers can see that we are here for the long haul. It gives credibility to our actions.”

The Stûv 16-cube.

What are the ranges of price points for Stûv products?

Thiry: “The average retail price is $6,000 or $7,000. The range is from $3,500 to $12,000.”

If a customer has complications with his purchase, I suspect your distributors will be trained well enough to be able to handle problems themselves. Is that the way you see it?

Thiry: “That is 100 percent the way I see it. We form close partnerships in every part of our business, and that will be the same here. We will develop a partnership with our distributors. Those same distributors will train their dealers. So it becomes a real partnership from the manufacturer to the end user.”

You’re certainly very aware that, over the past 10 to 15 years, many American and Canadian manufacturers have created contemporary-looking products. You’re not entering a market where contemporary is something new. That being said, you are facing some very large and well-established companies such as Napoleon, Hearth & Home Technologies, Regency and Town & Country.

What are your main selling points? How do Stûv products differ from those of your competitors?

Thiry: “What I say to everyone I meet is, ‘Come and have a look at the product.’ When I speak about our products, I don’t really speak about contemporary fireplaces or contemporary stoves. Actually the word ‘contemporary’ means that it’s from today. It’s kind of modern.

“If we talk about our design, it’s a more streamlined and timeless design. What I always say is that Stûv is ‘More Fire & Less Fireplace.’ Although American companies have done a lot to improve their design, there is still a big difference between our product and theirs.

“We are not actually selling a product that brings a contemporary design into the house; we are selling a product that is timeless. The main thing for us is the fire. You get only 10 percent steel and 90 percent fire, and that means our product can be easily installed in a very classic house or in something really modern. It doesn’t really bring the style in; the house makes the style.”

I’m still wondering if that will be enough to convince a lot of dealers to take your product; you will be fighting for floor space on very crowded floors.

Thiry: “Today, we are having very good success. Every day we see that more and more dealers are putting Stûv fireplaces and stoves on their showroom floors. One of the things we do offer in our partnership is an access to very innovative products. Take the Stûv 30 for instance. It’s the only stove in the world that can be used in three different positions – an open fire, a glass door and a closed door.

“One advantage we have when presenting and selling our products is that they have already been sold and experienced in the European market for 10 to 20 years. In the near future other companies may be able to offer the same design as the one we offer, but our experience is a big advantage.”

The Stûv 21/85DF.

About eight months ago, Stûv bought another Belgian hearth company called Tulp; it has a gas line of products, but not wood, whereas Stûv is exclusively wood. Will you end up changing that company’s name to Stûv as well?

Thiry: “Yes. That company had no manufacturing facility so everything will be manufactured at our Stûv plant. On the logistics side, the gas line, together with the wood-burning line, will be sent to Montreal and from Montreal distributed to other parts of America. That is, of course, the situation today.

“We are on the second step in our American project. The third one, as soon as the quantities have increased enough, will be the question of at least assembling products over here. Then, why not manufacture everything in America? Of course, there are many ways to do that, and perhaps many opportunities will arise. We could form a partnership with other manufacturers here in America or start our own assembly plant or whatever. These are the kinds of questions that we are slowly thinking about.”

Other companies have done just that. Jøtul, in Maine, is a good example. What is the range of price points for your gas line?

Thiry: “The exact prices are not fixed yet, but I would say that we will be between $5,000 and $10,000 for all those streamlined gas fireplaces. As soon as we have the gas fireplace range available for our dealers, we would like to become the only manufacturer they need. We will offer wood, gas and, in the near future, pellets.”

Do you have pellets in Europe?

Thiry: “Yes. There are different markets in Europe and it’s really different from one country to the other. For instance, in Europe there are three countries that work a lot with pellets. Number one is Italy, followed by Austria and Switzerland.

“We have never liked the bad view of the flame you normally have with classic pellet fireplaces or stoves. So we worked quite a lot in partnership with a company from Switzerland, and created the B-10 pellet stove.”

Photo: ©2014 MCM PHOTO. www.mcmphoto.ca L to R: Gilbert, Boudreau and Thiry with gas fireplaces Stûv B-Fire 95 (corner model at left) and Stûv B-Fire 70.90 (center).

What have I not asked that you would like to tell all the dealers who read our magazine?

Thiry: “I believe we agree that the European fireplace market has been, for over 20 years, more ‘contemporary’ or ‘streamlined’ in comparison with America. Stûv has been active in that market for 32 years and has participated to the ‘contemporary’ move by dedicating a lot of its resources to innovation.

“The leader’s place we’ve reached in our segment is due to our seeing a need and providing an answer for it, more than copying the existing market. Here’s one example: 15 years ago when we brought our Stûv 30 stove model to market, nobody had ever thought of mixing an open fire with a slow overnight-burning, 75 percent efficiency stove. We did.

 “Stûv has a lot of experience in designing, producing and distributing high quality wood-burning fireplaces of timeless and streamlined design. Our leading ranges Stûv 21, Stûv 30 and Stûv 16 have been distributed for at least 10 years on the European market, which gives them much more reliability than any new product entering the market.

“Our focus is on the fire (more fire, less fireplace); we make the fireplace disappear and the flame becomes the center of attraction. With the glass raised up in its open-fire position, or lowered to offer 75 percent efficiency, the flame on the Stûv 21 series remains exactly the same. Stûv models fit as well in very contemporary interiors as in very classical ones.

“We will be exhibiting at the HPBExpo in Nashville in March, where we will launch our certified gas fireplace range.”