December 2,
2008 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on December 2008
Thomasville Home Furnishings and Oak Express & Bedroom Expressions stores in Albany, N.Y., are closing, the
Business Review of Albany reported Tuesday.
The Thomasville store closes Wednesday, an employee told the paper, while the Oak Express & Bedroom Expressions—owned by Denver-based Furniture Row—began a liquidation sale last week, and will close by the end of December, according to an employee.
The Albany area faces a difficult housing market. Existing home sales in the region are down 16 percent through October and permits for new, single-family homes are down 30 percent through September, according to the report.
December 1,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Dining Room on December 2008
Robb & Stucky, Fort Myers, Fla., announced recently that its commercial unit has completed a second installation of vacation ownership units at the South Seas Resort, a Hilton Grand Vacations Company property on Captiva Island, Fla.
Robb & Stucky’s design team—led by Michelle Taylor Perry, ASID, and Jan Walker—designed new interiors encompassing the living rooms, master bedrooms and lanais of 10 HarbourView Villas.
“The spacious three- and two-bedroom units were originally a dark British Colonial theme,” said Perry. “In order to create a refreshing island feel, we used the citrus colors of yellows, oranges and bright greens. The new window treatments framed a fresh view of the marina for a more casual appearance,” she said.
Robb & Stucky, which has 15 stores, launched a resorts division earlier this year, and has had a relationship with the 330-acre Captiva Resort for more than three decades. The retailer provides turnkey furnishings for commercial clients and coordinates every aspect of the design and installation process.
December 1,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on December 2008
Retailers had an extra day of Thanksgiving this year as results rolled in from “Black Friday”—the day after Thanksgiving and the traditional start to the holiday shopping season. According to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) 2008 Black Friday Weekend survey, conducted by BIGresearch, more than 172 million shoppers visited stores and Web sites over Black Friday weekend, up from 147 million shoppers last year.
Shoppers spent an average of $372.57 this weekend, up 7.2 percent over last year’s $347.55. Total spending reached an estimated $41 billion.
“Pent-up demand on electronics and clothing, plus unparalleled bargains on this season’s hottest items, helped drive shopping all weekend,” said NRF president and CEO Tracy Mullin. “Holiday sales are not expected to continue at this brisk pace, but it is encouraging that Americans seem excited to go shopping again.”
Friday was clearly the busiest day of the weekend, with 73.6 million people hitting stores and Web sites for doorbuster sales. Though traffic did subside after Friday, retailers were also buoyed by two-day sales as 56.9 million people shopped on Saturday, up from 48.3 million last year, while another 26.2 million people planned to shop on Sunday. Thanksgiving Day also continues to increase in importance as the number of people who shopped on Thursday was up 48 percent over last year (16.2 million people vs. 10.9 million people).
According to the findings, Americans have completed slightly more shopping than they had one year ago (39.3 percent vs. 36.4 percent), indicating that traffic and sales over the next several weeks will be moderate.
“Though retailers should be encouraged by strong traffic and sales over the weekend, consumers are still being cautious,” said Phil Rist, executive vice president, strategic initiatives, BIGresearch. “Weekend shoppers indicated that they are still sticking to a budget and thinking carefully before making any holiday purchases.”
Though retailers in all categories were featuring big bargains, a majority of shoppers visited discount stores for holiday deals. According to the survey, more than half (54.7 percent) of this weekend’s shoppers visited discount stores. Nearly half (43 percent) shopped at a traditional department store, up 11.1 percent from 38.7 percent last year. About one-third of shoppers visited specialty stores like clothing or electronics stores (36 percent) and shopped online (34 percent).
NRF continues to project that holiday sales will rise 2.2 percent this year to $470.4 billion.
The NRF 2008 Black Friday Weekend survey defines the weekend as sales from Thursday, Nov. 27, to Sunday, Nov. 30. The survey, which polled 3,370 consumers, was conducted for NRF by BIGresearch Nov. 27–29. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.7 percent.
December 1,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on December 2008
Furniture Brands International (FBI), St. Louis, announced on Monday that Maureen A. McGuire has joined the company’s board of directors. McGuire most recently was chief marketing officer for Sears Holdings Corp. and has held senior marketing and strategy positions with IBM Corp. She will serve on the board’s Governance and Nominating Committee.
“We are delighted to have Maureen join Furniture Brands’ board,” said Ralph P. Scozzafava, chairman and CEO. “She brings world-class marketing expertise and broadens the skill set of the board. Her insights will be especially useful as we transform Furniture Brands to a consumer products company that leverages the power of our brands.”
For the past three years, McGuire served as executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Sears Holdings, where she was responsible for all marketing activities at the Sears and Kmart retail operations. She resigned her position in August. Prior to joining Sears Holdings, McGuire had a 30-year career with IBM in which she rose through the marketing organization to hold global strategy and marketing positions.
FBI’s brands include Broyhill, Lane, Thomasville, Drexel Heritage, Henredon, Pearson, Hickory Chair, Laneventure and Maitland-Smith.
December 1,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Home Office on December 2008
Construction worth an estimated $10.1 million has been completed on Martin Furniture’s two warehouse buildings in the San Diego area, according to a report Monday in the
San Diego Business Journal.
The project, located in the Britannia Industrial Park and in Otay Mesa, and totals 211,580 square feet. One facility totals 107,680 square feet, with 88,680 square feet of warehouse, 15,000 square feet of office space and a 4,000-square-foot shipping/receiving annex. The second building totals 103,900 square feet of warehouse space.