Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
November 24,
2008 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on November 2008
Denver-based Furniture Row Racing, which has competed in Nascar’s top level for three years, announced recently that it has released driver Joe Nemechek. A statement said the racing team sponsored by the 330-store retail chain bought out Nemechek’s contract after deciding it would not run the full 36-race schedule in Nascar’s highest division, Sprint Cup, in 2009.
Furniture Row had its best year in 2008, having qualified for 32 out of 36 races, earning a pole position at Talladega and finishing a team best 11th in that race.
“Just like the reduced schedule announcement, this buyout of Joe’s contract has nothing to do with his on-track performance,” said Joe Garone, team president, in an announcement.
November 24,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on November 2008
Bruce Bradburn, CEO of Bradburn Co., Atlanta, was elected 2009 chairman of the American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA) during the organization’s annual last week in Chicago; and Bassett Furniture Inds. President and CEO Rob Spilman received the organization’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award.
In addition to Bradburn, the AHFA board also elected John Bray, CEO of Vanguard Furniture, Hickory, N.C., first vice chairman; and Bob Duncan of American Leather, Dallas, second vice chairman. Kurt Darrow, president of La-Z-Boy, Monroe, Mich., moves to immediate past-chairman of the AHFA Board of Directors. The officers will assume their new posts Jan. 1, 2009.
Members newly elected to serve a three-year term on the AHFA board of directors include: Wyatt Bassett, Vaughan-Bassett, Galax, Va.; Alan Cole, Hooker Furniture, Martinsville, Va.; Ty Lorts, Lorts Manufacturing, Goodyear, Ariz.; Richard Magnussen, Magnussen Home Furnishings, New Hamburg, Ontario, Canada; Bill Markowitz, The Veneman Group, Westminster, Calif.; Kevin Sauder, Sauder Woodworking, Archbold, Ohio; and Alex Shuford, Century Furniture, Hickory, N.C.
Spilman, the fourth generation in one of the South’s original furniture families, received the Distinguished Service Award Friday at a gala dinner. He spent the summers of his youth working in furniture factories. After graduating from Vanderbilt University in 1978, Spilman joined Finger Furniture Co. in Houston, where he was exposed to all aspects of furniture retailing—warehousing, credit, store management and buying.
In 1984, Spilman moved to Hickory, N.C., and joined Bassett Upholstery Division as national sales manager. Two years later, he was promoted to vice president/general manager of Bassett’s promotional division, Impact. In January 1994, he was named executive vice president of Bassett. He has been president and chief executive officer since 2000, and is a member of the company’s board of directors.
The AHFA award cited Spilman for being a “leader, visionary, confidant, tireless worker and advocate for effective change in his beloved furniture industry.”
“Known as an executive who delegates and empowers his colleagues, he also pays close attention to the details every day,” said Spilman’s uncle, John D. Bassett III, in presenting the award. Bassett is chairman and CEO of Vaughan-Bassett Furniture.
Spilman was a member of AHFA’s Board of Directors from 1999–2005 and served as president in 2004. He also serves on the board of directors of First Union National Bank in Henry County, Va.
November 24,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on November 2008
The owner of an Ashley Furniture Homestore in Bakersfield, Calif., has filed for and received Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the
Bakersfield Californian reported on Monday.
An attorney representing Ashley licensee V.O. & Co. Frank and Mebby Van Ostrand said the store will continue normal operation.
“If somebody orders something at Ashley, they will get that product,” attorney T. Scott Belden said in the report. “We have gotten bankruptcy court orders to make sure that happens.”
Creditors include GE Commercial Finance, which is owed $940,000, according to court documents.
Mebby Van Ostrand and her husband, Frank, opened the store in 2006.
“We have a wonderful place to shop, we have great customers,” she said in the report. “Our plan is to move through this downturn with everyone else and continue to serve the community for years to come.”
November 24,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on November 2008
Industry veterans Johne Albanese and Steve Bailey have launched The e-Spresso Shop, a Web-centric marketing company to help home furnishings retailers and manufacturers properly reach what they call the “New Millennium Consumer.” The High Point-based company offers more than 40 years of combined experience at the retail and wholesale level in senior marketing and retail development roles with companies such as Bassett, Natuzzi and American Drew/Lea Inds., and W.Schillig, as well as K-Mart and Fay’s Inc.
“The name The e-Spresso Shop was selected because we like the idea of giving business a jolt at the start of every day, much like a lot of us get with coffee, and we believe that is one of the inherent benefits of a sound web strategy,” Albanese said.
The e-Spresso Shop offers five basic “coffees” including Breakfast Blend, Organic e-Spresso, French Roast, e-Spresso Double Shot and Full-Bodied Cappuccino, each with an increasing level of Web development, analysis and management services.
“Our focus is to help companies develop and execute unique, affordable performance-based e-Strategies that are targeted toward the Web’s largest and most prolific user groups, Gen X and Gen Y,” Albanese said.
Bailey said there is no advantage to having a Web site without populating it with the right kind of content and marketing it to the right consumers.
“We’ve spent our careers looking at and measuring the results of advertising programs, promotions, store layouts, merchandising and operations with various consumer groups,” Bailey said. “Often, the presentation can vary wildly but the inherent differences can be very subtle. We as an industry continue to use marketing tools and messages aimed toward Baby Boomers, using methods virtually unchanged at their core for many years. That positioning was then carried through to the Web as well. Unfortunately, a significant portion of this demographic have now exited their formative furniture buying years and are being replaced by a new type of consumer who doesn’t respond well, if at all, to previous marketing stimuli.”
That “New Millennium Consumer” will be the industry’s primary buying public for the next 40 years or more, said Albanese.
“As part of this shift, we need to acknowledge their predisposition to leveraging the Web for a wide variety of things, including information gathering and shopping,” he said. “But they specifically seek online companies with whom they identify on a very emotional level. If a Web site doesn’t speak their lifestyle ‘language,’ the Web site is ignored.”
For more information, visit www.e-spressoshop.com, or call (336) 259-1405.
November 24,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on November 2008
Birmingham Wholesale Furniture, Birmingham, Ala., will continue operating as normal under new ownership,
The Birmingham News reported Tuesday.
Robert Ajam and Simon Eid, who already owned Stoma’s Furniture and Interiors in Lafayette, La., closed on the purchase of Birmingham Wholesale Furniture last week from Tommy and David McLeod. They plan no major changes at the 57-year-old business, will retain current vendors and hope to expand the business.
“It caters to Birmingham and to the whole region,” Ajam said in the report. “To us, that’s very attractive.”