June 22,
2010 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Home Office on June 23, 2010
San Diego-based case goods, home office and home entertainment furniture vendor Martin Home Furnishings' Southampton desk and hutch has earned the prestigious Best Buy seal from Consumers Digest magazine in the Closed Units & Workstations category.
Selected based on quality of construction, features and style, a Consumers Digest Best Buy is defined as a product that offers the most value for a given price.
"It is truly satisfying to be recognized in a national publication for designs that include function and style," said CEO Gil Martin. "We constantly try to find ways to make our products more usable in the consumer's home. Today's electronics are requiring changes in furniture at a pace not seen before. It sounds like we are on the right track."
The Southampton desk and hutch was named a premium category best buy. The Consumers Digest editors liked the combination of built-in computer hookups on the desktop, the surge protector and the size drawers that provides generous storage space.
"We especially like the contrasting hardwood desk-tops," read an article that will appear in the August issue of Consumers Digest. "The 10-year warranty is the longest of any workstation that we found."
June 22,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Social Media on June 23, 2010
Home Furnishings Business Senior Editor Powell Slaughter's "Talking Points" blog looks at a way the furniture industry's using social media.
Read about a LinkedIn Twitter chat.
June 22,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Home Office on June 23, 2010
Case goods, home office and home entertainment furniture vendor Sligh Furniture Co., Holland, Mich., has received its third "Best Buy" designation from Consumers Digest magazine, this time for the Alante partners desk in the Home Office Desks and Chairs category.
Alante was first recognized as a "Best Buy" in 2007. Sligh's Laredo television console made the list in 2009.
"We are honored by Consumers Digest recognizing the Alante Partners Desk for the second time as a 'Best Buy'," said Sligh's chairman, Rob Sligh. "Our team that includes Alante product designer Joe McCambridge strives not only to create stylish home office options, but also furniture thats functional and versatile. Being recognized by a publication like Consumers Digest shows we are not only offering style and function, but were doing so in a way that offers enticing value for premium product consumers."
Consumers Digest recognized the Alante Partners Desk as a repeat winner based on its "combination of features and versatility"; and touted the desk's legroom (enough for two people to work comfortably across from each other), rounded open bookcase and file drawers as some of its unique features.
The publication has been identifying outstanding consumer values and offering expert product reviews, shopping tips and special reports on virtually every category of consumer goods available in North America for 45 years.
The desk will be featured in the August issue of Consumers Digest.
June 22,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on June 23, 2010
Specialty back care retailer Relax The Back, La Palma, Calif., has named
mattress manufacturer Anatomic Global "Vendor of the Year."
The award recognized Anatomic Global, Corona, Calif., for its outstanding performance supporting sales of the environmentally-friendly memory foam mattresses that the two companies worked in partnership to develop, the PureFit and PureRelax Mattresses by Relax The Back.
Presented at Relax The Back's annual sales convention recently held in Houston, it was one of the few the franchise company has given to a vendor within its first year of service.
"At Relax The Back, we are fortunate to work with many vendors that each year are deserving of this award," said Relax The Back Vice President of Merchandising J.D. Nespoli. "For 2009, our franchise network voted to recognize Anatomic Global for their outstanding efforts in support of the RTB program, and we couldn't be more excited by this well-deserved recognition."
Franchise owners representing a total of 110 Relax The Back stores casted their votes for Vendor of the Year, measuring vendor performance across a range of areas including customer service, sales training and product availability, and identified other strengths such as success with dealer incentives, improving retailers' margins and protecting distribution channels.
Anatomic Global President Jeff Scorziell accepted the award on behalf of his company.
"While it is a great honor to be voted as 'the dealer's choice' by Relax The Back, we know it wouldn't have been possible without the help and support received from its corporate management, store owners and employees," Scorziell said. "They are an outstanding group of retailers who provide exceptional service and value to their customers. We're proud to be a part of their corporate family and look forward to continuing our relationship for many years to come."
This is the second such award the manufacturer has won in the past 30 days. Recently,
one of the largest online retailers, Overstock.com, presented Anatomic Global with the 'Vendor of the Year' award for the second year in a row, lauding its manufacturing leadership, delivery satisfaction, customer service and quality standards.
June 22,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Case Goods on June 23, 2010
Case goods and upholstered furniture design/source vendor Sunpan will move to a new 130,000-square-foot state-of-the-art showroom and distribution facility in Toronto, effective July 19.
To celebrate, Sunpan is hosting a week-long grand opening party. Customers are invited to visit the facility at 875 Middlefield Rd., Toronto, 8 a.m.-10 p.m., August 6-12. In addition to Sunpan's fall introductions, the company is offering catered breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Sunpan has market showrooms in Toronto, High Point and Las Vegas and Shanghai.
For more information contact Kat Tsoi via e-mail, or call 800.787.1019.