Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
July 28,
2010 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Delivery on July 29, 2010
Furniture carrier Zenith Freight Lines, Conover, N.C., has expanded its truck fleet for the second time in the past year.
Zenith added 15 Freightliner Cascadia 72-inch raised-roof sleeper cabs in order to service growing customer demand for expedited shipments from California to ports and hubs throughout the United States. Last May the company added a dozen of the Freightliner Cascadias, citing the same need for increased capacity in its coast-to-coast expedited service.
"With retailers and importers continuing to manage inventory levels closely, speed-to-market for new and replenishment stock is more important than ever," said Jack Hawn, president and CEO of Zenith Global Logistics, which runs Zenith Freight lines. "To address this, we offer expedited, coast-to-coast service in 48 hours, and these new trucks will ensure we continue to meet--or exceed--our customers' requirements in this area."
Zenith Global Logistics is a total supply chain logistics provider specializing in international and domestic home furnishings warehousing, overseas transportation and domestic distribution, covering all of North America and the Caribbean. Zenith currently operates more than 4.5 million square feet of warehouse domestically with 11 locations in Southern California, Dallas Texas, North Carolina and Virginia.
July 28,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on July 29, 2010
An Ashley Furniture Homestore outlet will open next month in Batavia, N.Y., the Batavia Daily News reported.
The Ashley Furniture Homestore outlet will occupy the former FYE music store on West Main Street across from the Tops Supermarket at Batavia Commons. The location serves as a free-standing clearance outlet for the area licensee, Wellsville Carpet Town Inc., which owns and operates the six Ashley Furniture Homestores in the region as well as a distribution center on West Saile Drive in Batavias Gateway II Corporate Park.
The new Ashley Furniture HomeStore Outlet will retail scratch-and-dent furniture currently warehoused in the Batavia distribution center; furniture collections discontinued by the manufacturer; special close-out buys from Ashley Industries and brand new furniture from collections at the retailer's most popular price points.
July 27,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Delivery on July 28, 2010
Limited space and high freight rates make furniture retailers by no means the only ones struggling to get goods on the floor, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
Despite paying freight rates two or three times those of last year, retailers are getting merchandise on the floor after their promotions began, or sometimes too late. Examples in the Times report include grills for a Father's Day promotion at Cost Plus World Market arriving the holiday; hangers at for the Container Store arriving after the sale began; and fans and portable chairs for True Value hardware.
The reasons for the constriction and delays include ocean carriers' slowness to bring back on line more than 11 percent of the global shipping fleet idled last year; a move to "slow steaming" at slower, more fuel-efficient speeds; and essentially no production of new shipping containers.
"All my customers, they're having a terrible time," said Steven L. Horton in the report. He is principal at Horton Global Strategies, a freight-contract negotiator. "With the increased cost and them not knowing if they're even going to get the space or equipment, it's a weekly battle."
Retailers and suppliers experiencing higher freight and capacity issues include names such as Mattel, Polo Ralph Lauren, Jones Apparel Group, Costco, VF Corp., Big Lots and Lifetime Brands.
July 27,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on July 28, 2010
Specialty Sleep Association consultant Vicki Worden will hold a series of special briefings for manufacturers and retailers at next week's Las Vegas Furniture Market.
"These seminars are an opportunity to reach manufacturers and retailers to talk about a credible solution to the green washing that takes place in the market each day when it comes to selling environmentally friendly products," said Worden, a safety and environmental consultant to the SSA and president of Worden Associates Inc. "The SEP approach is a great way for the industry to engage, educate and inform consumers about a topic that is the number one concern of female consumers in particular."
The four briefings will educate participants on how to sell more sleep products by addressing the safety and environmental concerns of consumers. Worden's sessions will coach retailers on using the right terminology and how to use the recently released safety and environmental program seal to help them sell more environmentally friendly products to consumers.
The seminars will take place in the SSA showroom (C-1350) on Monday, August 2, 2-3 p.m.; Tuesday, August 3, 10-11 a.m. and 2-3 p.m.; and Wednesday, August 4, 4-5 p.m.
After more than a year of research and industry involvement, the SSA created a two-step label and seal that will appear on mattresses from manufacturers who join the program that informs the consumer about the minimum environmental and safety compliance levels the particular product adheres to, along with a label that lists components in the mattress.
Manufacturers in the program pay a fee to the SSA to use the label and seal, and complete an extensive application process with documentation that backs up claims. Consumers wanting further information beyond the seal and label will be able to go the SSA's Web site for more detailed information and can contact the organization if they wish to learn more about a specific manufacturer's component filing.
July 26,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on July 27, 2010
David Moret has joined mattress leader Sealy, Trinity, N.C., (NYSE: ZZ) as vice president of research & development.
Moret will lead all research, development, innovation, engineering and technical related initiatives. He joins Sealy from Newell Rubbermaid, where he transformed its technical organization into a consumer-focused component
of the new product development process.
Moret brings to Sealy 20-plus years of experience with Fortune 50 companies that include Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo and Johnson & Johnson. During his three-year tenure at Newell Rubbermaid, Moret delivered strong results product introductions as well as the expansion into new product categories for the Decor Business Unit.
"Dave has the know-how and the proven track record to drive significant changes to our new product development process," said Mike Hofmann, Sealy's executive vice president of operations. "He will serve as the critical link to our marketing group by translating our voice of consumer research into consumer-driven innovations that ultimately win in the market."
With sales of $1.3 billion in fiscal 2009, Sealy manufactures and markets a broad range of mattresses and foundations under the Sealy, Sealy Posturepedic, Sealy Embody, Stearns & Foster and Bassett brands. Sealy operates 25 plants in North America.