Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
May 2,
2010 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Business Strategy on May 3, 2010
The July 2010 Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market and Atlanta International Area Rug Market has set programs for this year's show, which begins July 14 at AmericasMart's four-building campus in downtown Atlanta.
Headlining the markets and supporting the product centers is an impressive lineup of celebrity tastemakers, designers and chefs, including Tyler Florence, Olivier Blanchard and others appearing in feature events across the Market.
The program also includes a comprehensive schedule of educational seminars, events and workshops featuring hands-on business-building solutions. Setting the stage for education is AmericasMart University, offering business classes taught by business professionals. In addition to the 12 courses in the curriculum, AMU will spotlight two keynote addresses on Saturday, July 17, and Sunday, July 18, that discuss how social media can increase customer interaction and loyalty and how retail can survive in a post-recession world.
In addition to AMU, the Market has almost 30 classes, seminars and workshops designed to further inspire and ignite thought-provoking discussion on methods to attack and solve challenges and strengthen business, while helping directly link AmericasMart product to store profits. Many of these offerings are category-specific, enabling retailers to grow in their niche arena or learn more about pursuing new options for cross-merchandising and attracting new customers.
May 2,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on May 3, 2010
A woman in Wayne County, W.Va., has sued home furnishings retailer Pottery Barn for damaged furniture she received, the West Virginia Record reported Friday.
According to her complaint, JolaNette Froble bought furniture at Pottery Barn's Columbus, Ohio, store in 2007 for shipment to here home, and found that upon unpacking the furniture a footboard was missing and two sets of side rails weren't shipped properly.
Froble seeks compensatory damages and the replacement of the bed or return of the purchase price and costs.
May 2,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in economic news on May 3, 2010
Consumer spending increased 0.5 percent in March to pass the pre-recession peak of November 2007, according to U.S. Commerce Department estimates on Monday.
After-tax, inflation-adjusted incomes, however, increased just 0.2 percent during the month, with transfer payments such as unemployment benefits accounting for much of the gain, which could hamper the economic recovery.
The March personal savings rate fell to 2.7 percent, the lowest since September 2008.
April 29,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Executive Changes on April 30, 2010
Kimberley Wray has tendered her resignation as vice president of marketing for the
High Point Market Authority due to "personal and family reasons." She will continue in the position through June.
Wray has held the position since July 2006.
"Kim joined our management team shortly after I came on board," said Brian Casey, president and CEO. "Her writing skills and deep knowledge of our industry have been invaluable to us over the last four years. Beyond that, all of us here at the Authority have enjoyed working with her, and we wish Kim the very best in her future endeavors.
Prior to joining the Market Authority, Wray was vice president of marketing and communications for the
Connie Post Cos. for seven years. She had also been vice president of marketing for Majec, a sister company to
Gefen Productions, and she'd been editorial director of the former
High Points Magazine and a group editor of
HFN.
My tenure with the Market Authority has been exceptionally rewarding, both personally and professionally, Wray said. Under the leadership of Brian Casey, we have been effective not only in meeting our competitive challenges, but also in successfully expanding our outreach during an economic downturn of historic proportions."
Casey said the Market Authority has already started efforts to fill the position.
"We expect to have a new person in place sometime this summer," Casey said. "As the marketing plan for our fall 2010 event is already in place and our overall strategy encompasses our needs for the next couple of years, we expect a smooth and effective transition."
April 29,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in economic news on April 30, 2010
New retailer orders for residential furniture rose 13 percent in February 2010 compared with the same month last year, according to the latest Furniture Insights survey of residential furniture manufacturers and distributors from the High Point accounting and consulting firm Smith Leonard.
While order activity still has a ways to go in recouping business--new orders in February 2009 were 22 percent lower than February 2008--this marked the fourth month in a row that orders were up over the previous year's same month comparison. October was flat, November up 10 percent, December up 12 percent and January up 4 percent.
Shipments in February were 4 percent higher than February 2009. January shipments were 6 percent higher than January 2009, resulting in the year-to-date shipments up 5 percent over the same two months of last year. This was the third month in a row that shipments were up
over the same period a year ago.
As a result of orders exceeding shipments, backlogs increased 12 percent over January. Backlogs are now up 34 percent over February of 2009, up from 26 percent last month.
Receivables were down 3 percent from last February in spite of the increase in shipments. Receivables were even with January with shipments up 11 percent.
"Some of this may relate to timing, as we would expect receivable levels to begin to increase as shipments increase," Smith Leonard Managing Partner Ken Smith said in the report. "Overall, receivables continue to be in good shape at this point."
Inventories in February were 19 percent lower than February 2009 versus a decrease of 21 percent last month compared with January 2009. February 2009 inventory levels were 6 percent lower than February 2008.
"As with the last few months, it appears that inventories are much more in line with current volume levels," Smith said.
The number of factory and warehouse employees fell 3 percent from January levels and were down 5 percent from February a year ago. Factory and warehouse payrolls were even with February 2009, but were 7 percent higher than January 2010.
"We have heard that some of the momentum from February may have been lost a bit in March, but certainly we have not heard this from
everyone," Smith said in his summary. "There has been some speculation that some of the uptick has been related to retailers doing some restocking, but there have also been comments from retailers that business was picking up.
"Based on all we heard at the High Point Market, it does appear that business is getting better at retail. Maybe not where it once was or even where we would like for it to be, but at least improving. Most we talked with at Market felt that it was the best market in several. As with retail, while not where everyone wants it to be, but it was clearly a good market for most. We will see when final
orders come in over the next few weeks, but from what we heard, even order writing was good for many during market."
The only major negative Smith heard at Market related to financing.
"As business begins to pick up, we are concerned as to how manufacturers, distributors and retailers will be able to finance their growth. But that is a much better problem to have than what we have been through. ... Many companies have stopped the red ink from losses. As they continue to show improvements, we expect the banks and other financial institutions will eventually come back to the industry. Some who have not treated people very well, will be remembered."