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Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
Delivering Service
July 19,
2012 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in on July 20, 2012
What does running a transport and logistics service have to do with selling furniture? In the case of Thomasville Home Furnishings of New Jersey, a lot.
Edward Massood, president of the six-store Fairfield, N.J.-based company, spent years at the head of furniture logistics specialist MGM Transport. Hes combined strong back-end experience with what he believes is a winning retail format, and is looking forward to adding stores in the next couple of years.
A high comfort level with Thomasville and a thoughtfully developed turnkey retail format struck Massood as a great opportunity when he started the retail operation in 2001 with three Thomasville stores in Virginia. He had a long relationship with the vendor.
Id worked with Thomasville retailers throughout the country for more than 20 years, Massood said in an interview last month. In the 80s, MGM started working with Thomasville to develop some of the programs theyre know for such as IMP, their inventory management program.
Thomasville wanted their retailers to focus not on inventory, but promoting at retail, and offering a delivery quote at the time of sale. Those sorts of programs enabled Thomasville to grow.
FAST TRACK
By 2000, Thomasville had focused its attention on its dedicated store business, and that opportunity to open more freestanding branded locations caught Massoods eye. After the Virginia stores, Massood opened three more Thomasville locations in New Jersey.
We opened six stores in two markets in less than two years, he said. I always felt that with what Thomasville was doing on their store programmerchandising these stores, developing blueprints and having someone like Patty (Forti, Thomasville of New Jerseys marketing director) on staffwe had the front end covered.
My experience in the back end and my brothers (CEO Michael Massood) experience in financehes a CPA and also runs a successful accounting businesswe had the operational aspect covered, too. And now, were celebrating our 10th anniversary this year.
By 2004, the company had a total of nine storesfive in New Jersey, four in Virginia. In 2007, the Massoods sold the Virginia stores back to Thomasville.
We were in two distinctive markets and wanted to focus our efforts in New Jersey, he said. We felt it was a good opportunity to grow our business in New Jersey.
The recession put those plans for expansion on hold, but Thomasville Home Furnishings of New Jersey is back in a growth mentality.
Were positioning ourselves now for growth, Massood said. Were looking at two locations in New Jersey where were looking to expand, and were hopeful we can have some (store) openings in 2013.
In addition to the five dedicated locations, Thomasville Home Furnishings of New Jersey operates The Back Room, a 13,000-square-foot multi-vendor store in Rockaway.
Its an avenue for us to clear off some samples and sell some non-Thomasville product we carry, Massood said.
LOCAL VISION
While Thomasville provided a basic foundation for furniture retailingthe store layout, the product line, the in-store signage, the Web presence the Massoods aimed to create what Edward called a more local vision of what we see as the future of retailing.
First, theres a strong sense of local involvement where Thomasville Home Furnishings of New Jersey has locations.
Were very big in charities and very active in the local community, Massood said. Those charities include Wounded Warriors, Family Aid Society, womens shelters and more.
Thats where we evolved the concepta big, national brand name with Thomasville, but also a strong local presence, Massood said. Were connecting the people with the products. Thomasville gave us this good foundation, and weve tried over the last four years as the business climate changed, to adjust to our changing market, as people traded down in a hard economy.
Thomasvilles always been focused at the higher end of middle price pointspeople who were buying Thomasville were trading down, but the high-end was looking at Thomasville as a value. Weve had to convert from what Id call a commodity sale to providing an inspirational environment.
That means not only selling the dining room, but also completing the room with window treatments, rugseven the china.
Were working to fulfill their dream, their expectations for the room theyre working on, Massood said.
Merchandising is consistent for the most part throughout the five Thomasville locations in terms of core product.
Its very important to be consistent from a marketing standpoint, making sure the core of our business is in every store, and then put in a local flavor, Massood said. Princeton customers might have different tastes than the people we see in our Paramus store.
Beyond Thomasville, some locations include goods from the Furniture Brands International sister company Drexel Heritage.
We carry Drexel Heritage in three of our five locations, Massood noted. These are predominantly our larger stores where we could put in a Drexel gallery.
TELLING THE STORY
Thomasville Home Furnishings of New Jersey concentrates more on service than price in telling its story to consumers in the markets it serves.
Direct mail remains the companys most effective form of advertising.
Its not so much about sale, sale, saleits about bringing the service aspect in, Massood noted. We talk about design assistance, excellent quality and value, window treatments and completing the room with accessories. Accessories are the jewelry for the furniture.
In addition to traditional advertising, social media play an increasing, if more subjective, role in reaching out to consumers.
We are into social media, and especially for the community aspectsay, when we have a designer night, or one of our designers has completed a big installation, Massood said. Social media is a great way for our design consultants to sell the work theyve done. Were prodding them to show our Thomasville customers what they can accomplish.
Theres no direct link to a cash register with social media, but you can show an empty room turned into a completed room, with all the stages. Its all about awareness, how we can help customers to fulfill their dreams.
ADJUSTING TO CHANGE
Its no surprise that Thomasville Home Furnishings of New Jersey has felt the effects of a tough economic environment for retailers in general and home furnishings in particular, but the companys adapting to new rules in the market.
A lot obviously has changed, and our customers continue to evolve, first, in how they shop; and second, the economy and how comfortable they feel, Massood said. The housing market here still is not robust, and our business depends a lot on that.
The stores dont see as many customers as before, but Massood sees some shifts that play well to Thomasvilles accessibly upscale line.
The foot traffic has continued to decrease, but because of the Internet, people are doing more research online, and they come into the store with, say, five top collections in mind, he said. Theres less foot traffic, but we see a more educated consumer coming in.
He believes Thomasvilles strength lay in the lines ability to customize and its breadth of upholstery fabric selections, scales and product styles.
The fact that its something that takes a sofa and makes it theirs through the fabrics, the trim they put on itthat develops relationship selling, Massood said. In our price point, customers are looking for the help, and they want to be the most important job on the designers plate.
All the above has Massood in an optimistic overall mood, and as noted above, in the mood to open new locations.
Business has not rebounded since 2009, when we saw the biggest drop, he said. But Im optimistic that as the housing market turns, we should begin a steady correction. HFB