Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
March 22,
2010 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in on March 23, 2010
Grand Furniture Outlet in Norfolk, Va., was destroyed in a fire Monday afternoon, WFMY reported Monday.
Firefighters kept the blaze from spreading to other buildings but the store was a total loss.
The fire is under investigation.
March 22,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on March 23, 2010
Grand Furniture Outlet in Norfolk, Va., was destroyed in a fire Monday afternoon, WFMY reported Monday.
Firefighters kept the blaze from spreading to other buildings but the store was a total loss.
The fire is under investigation.
March 22,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on March 23, 2010
Contemporary home furnishings retailer Design Within Reach has resolved a lawsuit filed by furniture supplier Heller, Inc., over the
Bellini, which sells for $150.
The retailer issued the brief release that said both parties "are pleased with the resolution of this dispute and look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship in the future."
The case revolved the plastic chair designed by Mario Bellini for Heller, which then turned around and sold the chair to Design Within Reach for resell in its stores, catalog and online. The chair was quite successful for the retailer and appeared on the back cover of the first Design Within Reach catalog in 1999.
According to the case, Heller sold a significant number of the chairs to DWR and then in 2008, Heller noted a "confusingly similar chair" in the DWR catalog selling for $50 less than the Bellini's price tag.
March 21,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Financial Reports on March 22, 2010
Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) reported net income of $88.4 million for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31, compared to $12.2 million posted in the same quarter last year.
Sales for the quarter rose 8.1 percent to $1.09 billion compared with $1.008 billion in the fourth quarter of last year. Fourth-quarter retail sales climbed 7.9 percent to $692 million, and same-store sales for the group increased 7.6 percent. Broken down by chain, same-store sales at Williams-Sonoma climbed 5.9 percent; Pottery Barn, 11.5 percent; and Pottery Barn Kids, 12.3 percent.
Direct-to-customer sales, including catalog and online orders, rose 8.4 percent to $398 million.
For the year, the company posted net earnings of $77.4 million, compared to $30 million reported in fiscal 2008. Sales for the year were $3.1 billion, compared to nearly $3.4 billion reported in the previous year.
"As I think about our successes in the past year, as well as over the past 30 years, I'm struck by the realization of what it takes to be your best," said Howard Lester, chairman and chief executive officer. "Even in good times, being your best is difficult, but in challenging times it is a strenuous test, but one that our organization was prepared to pass. During the most severe recession in recent history, we delivered the highest operating contribution in the history of our direct-to-customer segment, reduced our non GAAP SG&A expense rate to an all-time low, strategically reduced inventory while gaining market share, and generated more cash in one year than ever before. I cannot reflect on this level of achievement without being extremely proud of what has been accomplished, nor more confident in our future as this new management team officially begins to take the reins."
For the first-quarter of fiscal 2010, the company expects total net revenues to be in range of $660 million to $680 million and comparable store sales between 8 percent and 11 percent.
March 21,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Green on March 22, 2010
Andy Counts, chief executive officer of the American Home Furnishings Alliance, told a House subcommittee on Thursday that adequate compliance timelines and sell-through provisions will be critical elements in proposed legislation to regulate formaldehyde emissions from all composite wood products sold in the United States.
AHFA supports the Formaldehyde Standards for Composite Wood Product Act, introduced by Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), on March 10. The bill would take elements of California's formaldehyde emission standard and make them a federal rule. The emission limits imposed would be the lowest in the world. They would apply to all hardwood plywood, medium-density fiberboard and particleboard sold, supplied, offered for sale or manufactured in the United States.
AHFA, along with the wood products industry, worked for more than seven years with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to establish those formaldehyde emission limits. However, there are several aspects of the California rule that cannot be implemented nationally, Counts told the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, which is reviewing the proposed legislation.
"Due to the unprecedented economic conditions of the last few years, inventory levels remain high," Counts told legislators. "Unlike in California, where non-compliant inventories could be moved to other markets, adequate sell-through provisions are needed nationally to accommodate increased inventories and slow inventory turns."
Counts requested a sell-through period of 36 months for finished goods following the compliance deadline for composite wood products.
"It is important to note that the California formaldehyde standard and the national standard proposed under H.R. 4805 regulate emissions from composite wood products and not the finished products that contain composite wood components," Counts continued, and that the value-added steps associated with finished products, such as lamination and finishing, will, in fact, lower the formaldehyde emissions.
Counts recommended that the Environmental Protection Agency focus its compliance and enforcement efforts at the point of manufacture and process control.
"The regulation should not contain any provisions for the testing of finished goods, such as furniture or cabinets," he said. "If the raw board component parts are properly regulated, downstream users of these products will be required to purchase them, and to only use or resell these safe products to consumers."
Counts told the subcommittee that AHFA was prepared to educate the industry on the new national standard and would provide the tools necessary to ensure compliance on a global basis.