Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
October 21,
2008 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in on October 2008
Hooker Furniture Corp. and High Point University will dedicate the Alfred J. Audi Conference Room at the university with a ceremony at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
The room, number 213 in Norton Hall on the HPU campus, is a gift from Hooker in memory of the late Alfred Audi, who with his wife, Aminy Audi, took L&JG Stickley from a company of 25 workers to a leader in high-end furniture manufacturing that now employs more than 1,600 people.
Aminy Audi, president and CEO of Stickley; and son, Edward Audi, vice president of manufacturing will be in attendance. Paul Toms Jr. of Hooker, will present the gift. Donald Scarborough, HPU vice president of institutional affairs; Aminy Audi, and HPU President Nido Qubein also will have comments.
Tuesday night, Alfred Audi was one of four new inductees into the American Furniture Hall of fame.
October 21,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on October 2008
Edward Massood has resigned his position as president of MGM Transport to focus his attention on his retail operations in the northeast.
His resignation was effective Oct. 15.
“MGM Transport has been a tremendous part of my life the past 30
years as well as the people with whom I have worked,” Massood said. “This has been a wonderful experience for me. It has been an honor to be surrounded by the finest people in this industry, they have each become my extended family and I will cherish my friendships and time with them always.”
Massood owns a group of Thomasville furniture stores in New Jersey with his brother Michael Massood Jr.
“I plan to concentrate on providing the best retail experience as well as continued growth in the retail sector,” he said. “This will also allow me to spend more time with my family.”
Massood said the his decision was not made lightly and added that under the leadership of Dave Brenner as president of Furniture Transport Group, MGM and FTG will continue to move in the “right direction.”
“The Massood family and MGM Transport have been icons in specialized home furnishings transportation for the last three decades in North Carolina, and while Eddie will no longer be serving as president of MGM Transport he will still be involved as a member of the board of directors for CF Holdings,” Brenner said.
October 20,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on October 2008
Furniture.com, which provides e-commerce capabilities for several retailers, announced Monday that it has hired telecommunications industry executive Morgan Woodruff as chief operating officer.
Prior to joining Waltham, Mass.-based Furniture.com, Woodruff was general manager and senior executive vice president of Owera, a telecommunications software company. He was previously vice president of sales and marketing for Global IP Sound.
At Furniture.com, Woodruff will be primarily responsible for driving results for clients and new business development. The company’s Monday news release said the company has grown dramatically in the last 12 months and has added clients outside its base of furniture retailers. The company’s clients have more than $2 billion in brick-and-mortar sales.
“The e-tail market continues to evolve as consumers move more of their spending online. Bricks and mortar retailers with difficult e-commerce challenges continue to turn to Furniture.com to capture this opportunity,” said Furniture.com President and CEO Carl Prindle “Our growth reflects our ability to help our customers monetize this trend. Morgan’s track record for scaling organizations through times of significant growth will be a tremendous asset to the company and our clients as we continue to evolve.”
October 20,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Motion Upholstery on October 2008
Stung by a dramatic drop in sales in its recreation vehicle seating unit, Dubuque, Iowa-based Flexsteel announced Monday that sales in its first quarter were down 9.4 percent to $91.4 million, leading to a loss of $749,000 versus net income of $1.2 million in the same period a year ago.
Residential net sales were down by about $700,000 to $62 million slightly, but the company’s recreational vehicle seating unit saw sales drop 62.1 percent to $5.9 million. Commercial sales increased 4.3 percent to $23.5 million.
The company said it is working to bring production in line with current demand and has cut its workforce by about 15 percent this year through layoffs and attrition. The company announced in September that it is closing two long-established manufacturing operations, including a 50-year-old factory in Lancaster, Pa., and a 25-year-old facility in New Paris, Ind., that specialized in recreational vehicle seating.
October 20,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on October 2008
As the furniture industry’s doldrums extend into a third year, analyst Jerry Epperson of the investment banking firm Mann, Armistead and Epperson told reporters Monday that hopeful economic signs have been spotted on the distant horizon.
Speaking at the American Home Furnishings Alliance’s annual High Point Market kickoff event, he said the U.S. economy as a whole will likely see a 3 percent decline in gross domestic product in the fourth quarter, experience a 1.5 percent drop in the first quarter of 2009 and be flat in the second quarter.
After experiencing that economic pain, “We’re going to see some growth in the third quarter,” he said. “The situation we now have is somewhat severe, but it is going to be shortlived.”
He said the severity of the industry’s current slump can best be seen in the mattress sector, which is the midst of what will likely be its third year with a sales decline since 1973. But, while the previous dips were relatively shallow--ranging from 0.3 percent to 1.9 percent--mattress sales from January to August of this year have dropped 8.3 percent. In fact, mattress sales in August were off 16.1 percent versus last year.
He predicts that new home construction will continue to languish into 2010, but expects a relatively quick recovery in existing home sales due in part to the fact potential buyers will see values in a market where home prices were down 9.3 percent nationwide in August versus the same period in 2007.
Summing up the prospects for the overall economy, he said, “There will be nice solid gains (late) next year and a wonderful, wonderful 2010, which can’t get here soon enough.”