Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
December 7,
2009 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in on December 8, 2009
Wade Oppliger has joined full-line vendor Four Hands, Austin, Texas, as vice president of upholstery, reporting to President and CEO Matthew Briggs.
With nearly 30 years of industry experience in merchandising as well as sales and retail management, Oppliger will head the Boulevard brand and oversee the Four Hands seating category.
"I am very excited to be joining the Four Hands team to expand their upholstery offering," Oppliger said. "Four Hands trusted value story and exciting product mix provide an excellent opportunity for growth in the seating category."
Oppliger began his career in the executive training program at Bullock's Department stores in Los Angeles. He moved into buying casegoods, then textiles, before moving to New York to merchandise clothing for Federated Department Stores.
Oppliger returned to California to work as an independent sales representative in the southwest region for four years, then joining This End Up in product development. Oppliger then relocated to Hickory, N.C., where he joined Ladd Upholstery as a merchant, then Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, serving as a regional account manager.
"We are thrilled to have Wade on board, his talent and depth of experience are exactly what we were
looking for to help guide the Boulevard brand," Briggs said.
December 7,
2009 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on December 8, 2009
Ashley Furniture Inds. Inc., Arcadia, Wis., has restructured its sales divisions and sales management with an eye toward positioning for future growth.
Effective Jan. 1, Ashley's new divisional structure will be divided into three parts: Stationary Upholstery, Motion Upholstery and Case Goods. Further, Ashley will assign its sales force of independent marketing specialists to be dedicated to each division, and to ensure that the sales organization offers a high level of product knowledge, product training and assistance to retail customers with advertising and marketing.
The divisional changes and products sold by each division will be as follows:
* Case Goods Division, representing bedroom, dining room and top-of-bed products under the Ashley, Millennium, and Signature Design by Ashley brand names.
* Motion Upholstery Division, focusing on families' casual living area and representing fabric and leather motion, lift top and caster occasional tables, home office and walls/entertainment centers products under the Ashley, Millennium and Signature Design by Ashley brand names.
* Stationary Upholstery Division, representing fabric and leather stationary upholstery, occasional tables, lamps, rugs, throws, pillows and tabletop accessories products under the Ashley, Millennium and Signature Design by Ashley brand names.
"This effort is the result of a wide ranging internal study that included spending considerable time not just discussing these opportunities amongst ourselves, but consulting with our customers to properly identify how our sales organization can meet their needs," said Ashley CEO Todd Wanek. "Listening to the customer is where success starts, and so based upon their input, and how consumers are living today, now is the ideal time for this initiative."
Ashley also restructured its sales management. Until this month, the company depended on three divisional vice presidents to work with the same accounts and represent their respective divisions. As of Dec. 1, the vice presidents of sales are now regionally focused and will handle all three divisions and the complete customer relationship. This is a dynamic change that will capitalize on any and all local market opportunities and upgrade the operational feedback loop, enhance sales support and deliver more targeted advertising strategies.
"We could not be more excited at the momentum we've achieved, but now more than ever we see evolutionary changes such as these as the best way to convert potential into tangible and dynamic results," Wanek said.
December 30,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in economic news on December 31, 2008
Consumer confidence ended the year on a sour note, according to the Conference Board's latest Consumer Confidence Index results. The Index fell to 38 in December, down from 44.7 in November (1985=100), declining to an all-time low.
The Present Situation Index plummeted to 29.4 from 42.3 in November and the Expectations Index slipped to 43.8 from 46.2 last month.
Consumer confidence was identified as the No. 1 measure of how the economy is performing by respondents in Home Furnishings Business' last two exclusive economic surveys.
Just more than half of consumers—54 percent—rated current business conditions as "good" or "normal," down from 59.4 percent in November. Only 6.2 percent of those surveyed said jobs were "plentiful," compared with 8.7 percent last month. The balance of respondents in both months said jobs were either "not so plentiful" or "hard to get."
Looking ahead six months, 67.2 percent of consumers said they expected business conditions to be the same or better, measured against 71.7 in November. In December, nearly 60 percent said more or the same number of jobs would be available, compared with 66.3 percent the prior month.
Despite the overall dismal confidence results, consumer purchasing plans for big-ticket items in the next six months strengthened. In December, 4.7 percent of consumers planned to buy an automobile in the next six months, compared with 3.8 percent last month and 2.5 percent indicated they expected to purchase a home, up from 2.1 percent in November.
Regional confidence results paralleled national figures, with declines recorded in eight of the nine areas. The lone holdout was the West South Central region, which posted an identical confidence score of 65 in both November and December.
"The further erosion of the Consumer Confidence Index reflects the rapid and steep deterioration of economic conditions that occurred in the fourth quarter of 2008," said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center.
"The Present Situation Index is now close to levels last seen in the months following the 1990–91 recession," said Franco, "but is not as low as levels reached during the 1980–81 recession. Declines in the Expectations Index appear to be moderating, but this index continues to hover at historical lows."
She said both the present situation and expectations measurements bear careful watching over the next several months to see if they are starting to show signs of approaching a bottom.
"In the meantime, however, the overall economic outlook remains quite dismal for the first half of 2009, and only a modest recovery is expected in the second half," Franco said.
The Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. The cutoff date for December's preliminary results was Dec. 22.
December 30,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bankruptcy on December 31, 2008
Furniture Country Galleries, St. Augustine, Fla., announced recently that it has filed for Chapter 11 in United States Bankruptcy Court. A statement posted on the retailer's Web site on Dec. 19 states that its stores have closed to prepare for a major sale.
The Web site statement also said customers awaiting orders will be contacted. A story in The Daily Commercial of Leesburg, Fla., Tuesday states that the retailer has hired Planned Furniture Promotions to handle its going-out-of-business (GOB) sale, pending court approval.
The newspaper stated that a company press release blamed the closing on the weakening economy combined with a severe cash-flow problem. The company was founded in 1979 and had three stores before closing a location in Ocala to focus on stores in St. Augustine and Leesburg.
December 30,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on December 31, 2008
A Suffolk County, Mass., grand jury has indicted the owner of Sid's Furniture in Hyannis, Mass., in connection with failing to account for and pay over sales taxes collected by the business and for failing to file corporate excise tax returns. The Massachusetts Attorney General began investigating Abbott Davidson in February 2008.
It is alleged that Davidson failed to pay approximately $245,000 in sales tax collected from June 2006 though October 2008. According to authorities, Davidson also failed to file corporate excise tax returns, which corporations doing business in the Commonwealth were required to file annually for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006.
According to a release from the Attorney General's office, Davidson incorporated Homestead Direct Inc., which does business as Sid’s Furniture, in 1997. Although the corporation was involuntarily dissolved in 2007 for failure to file annual reports, the business continued to operate.