Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
November 11,
2008 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Home Office on November 2008
Spurred by a sharp decline in orders, office and residential furniture maker Herman Miller, Zeeland, Mich., on Monday announced a plan to cut operating expenses by $60 million through a series of actions that include job cuts. Published reports said more than 400 jobs could be eliminated by the end of January through manufacturing layoffs and voluntary separation agreements.
The company said orders in September and October slipped to $34 million per week—from $41 million per week earlier this year. CEO Brian Walker said the cost-cutting will keep expenses in line with anticipated business while preserving the company’s ability to make key investments.
“These are difficult times for any business, and particularly for a community like ours at Herman Miller. But one of our strengths is our ability to face challenge directly, and to act with decisive purpose,” Walker said. “We are and will remain a resilient and agile company, serving our customers with great products and services and continuing to invest in key areas of opportunity, now and in the future.”
He said earnings in the company’s current quarter are expected to be down only modestly—with earnings per share of 57 cents to 64 cents—because of a strong backlog of orders.
November 11,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on November 2008
Mattress Firm, Houston, has boosted its store count to 530 locations in 21 states with the purchase of five franchised stores in Birmingham, Ala.
The company announced the acquisition of Blue Ocean Waters on Monday. The franchisee had opened five Mattress Firm locations over the past 15 months.
“Blue Ocean has been a valuable partner and strong advocate for Mattress Firm in Birmingham while quickly building a strong presence there, making it an attractive market for us to enter from a corporate-owned perspective,” said Mattress Firm CEO Gary Fazio.
Founded in 1986, Mattress Firm has grown to become one of the nation’s largest mattress chains, with locations in 44 markets.
November 10,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on November 2008
Mattress Discounters, Upper Marlboro, Md., which filed for Chapter 11 in September, gained Bankruptcy Court approval Monday to walk away from its contract as a sponsor of baseball’s Washington Nationals, who went 59-102 this past season.
According to the Reuters news service and other published reports, the 140-store retailer that operates in six states, signed a deal to become a sponsor in January, but complained in recent Bankruptcy Court filings that the agreement is “burdensome” and provided no benefits following the close of the season last month.
Last year, Houston-based Mattress Firm said it would acquire Mattress Discounters, but the deal later fell apart. Mattress Discounters’ restructuring is focused on shutting stores in New England to focus on the Washington area.
November 10,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Casual Dining on November 2008
Citing factors ranging from a weak economy to unsuccessful product introductions, Chromcraft Revington, West Lafayette, Ind., announced Monday that sales in its third quarter dropped 18.8 percent to $23.07 million, and the company incurred a loss of $10.1 million after a loss of $2 million in the same period a year earlier.
The one bright spot was that the company’s commercial furniture sales unit increased sales by an unspecified amount. The report comes after the company began the third quarter by replacing its CEO and reorganizing its senior management. The company reported impairment expenses of $6.6 million, some of which is related to the closing of its Delphi, Ind., factory, which has been converted to a distribution facility. The company announced in September it plans to lay off 185 employees in Lincolnton, N.C., by the end of November and sell its buildings and equipment there as it outsources manufacturing that had been conducted at that location and in Indiana.
Chairman and CEO Ronald Butler said the restructuring is necessary to position the company to compete more effectively in a global furniture marketplace, and he said the company is responding to weak sales with spending controls and overhead spending reductions, including personnel cuts.
He said the company has several sources of cash, including unused borrowing capacity of $14.2 million, and it expects to receive $3.3 million in 2009 from the sale of buildings and equipment in North Carolina. It also anticipates refundable income taxes of $3.4 million and would gain $3 million from the sale of excess inventory.
For the first nine months of Chromcraft Revington’s year, sales declined 19.9 percent to $76.1 million, and its net loss for the nine-month period was $18.4 million following a loss of $6.5 million a year earlier.
November 10,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on November 2008
Jordan’s Furniture, Avon, Mass., faces a lawsuit over its “Monster Sweep” promotion, which involved a money-back promise to some customers if the Boston Red Sox won October’s World Series in a sweep, the Gloucester Daily Times, reported last week.
Salem lawyer John Yasi filed the suit on behalf of Gisela Levin, who bought almost $5,000 worth of furniture at Jordan’s during the promotion, which ran March to May.
Yasi contends that the promotion was essentially gambling and hopes to expand his role as attorney for an entire class, which would include almost anyone buying furniture from Jordan’s during the promotion.
Jordan’s CEO Eliot Tatelman issued a press release in reaction to the lawsuit.
“Both a state and federal judge have already ruled in our favor on this issue,” he said in the release. “At Jordan’s, buying furniture is not a game of chance. All of our customers paid the same ‘under prices’ for their furniture—whether or not they participated in the Red Sox promotion—and each of them received the high-quality furniture Jordan’s is known for. Calling that a lottery is absolutely ridiculous.”