Slow Housing Market Affecting Furnishings Sales

April 12, 2007  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in on April 2007 Home furnishings retail sales are getting hit by slow housing sales, according to a report Thursday from MarketWatch, which listed monthly sales from a number of retailers, many of who blamed declines in housing starts and slowing existing-home sales for poor sales of furniture and accessories.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has had slow home-related product sales for almost a year, the report said, despite better than expected same-store sales. BJ’s Wholesale Club also said residential furniture sales were poor.

Federated missed Wall Street’s projections for same-store sales, and Chief Executive Terry Lundren blamed weakness in home-related merchandise for most of that disappointment.

J.C. Penney which recruited designer Chris Madden to create an exclusive home collection, said Thursday that overall sales were robust but “home continued to experience some weakness.”

“Our poorest performing businesses were home and furniture,” said Anthony Buccina, president of merchandising at Bon-Ton Stores.

Tuesday Morning, a leading closeout retailer of upscale, decorative home accessories, saw same-store sales for the quarter dropped 5.4 percent.