Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
October 6,
2008 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in High Point on October 2008
The International Home Furnishings Representatives Association will again hold a special membership drive during Fall High Point Market, Oct. 20-26.
Market attendees who join during the week will entered in a drawing to win a variety of prizes: a free 2009 membership with IHFRA; a free night stay at La Quinta Inns & Suites; $25 off at Choice Hotels International; a free night stay at Accor Hotels; or a $20 Office Depot gift card.
IHFRA also will encourage current members to participate in New Member Week by referring a new member. All IHFRA members receive a $15 reduction on their next year’s dues for each new member they get to sign up.
Those interested in membership can visit the IHFRA office off the main lobby in the IHFC across from the Brown Jordan showroom to learn more, including IHFRA’s new major medical program available through Aetna, and a 10 percent off program on Verizon Wireless bills.
The IHFRA office also will offer copying printing, supply and UPS services. Office Depot will have a “On-Site Store” in the IHFRA office starting Thursday, Oct. 16.
October 5,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Case Goods on October 2008
Furniture Brands International announced Friday that its Thomasville brand has purchased 16 stores from two operators and has launched a number of new marketing initiatives for the 150-store chain.
A news release Friday said Thomasville has acquired 10 Thomasville Home Furnishings stores in North Carolina, South Carolina, the Atlanta area and Florida from Hendricks Furniture Group. It also reached an agreement to purchase an additional six locations in the Philadelphia area from Encore Enterprises. Terms of the deals were not disclosed. With those purchases, Furniture Brands International will own 42 Thomasville stores in 11 markets. Friday’s announcement said FBI anticipates steadily expanding its footprint of Thomasville stores in current and new markets.
New marketing initiatives began Labor Day weekend with a national TV campaign that’s part of a national television and print initiative designed to build consumer awareness. It will run into early 2009. This month, the company is launching the Darryl Carter for Thomasville collection, which is featured prominently in articles in leading lifestyle publications like
Elle Décor and
O Magazine. Editorial profiles will be supplemented with advertising in publications that reach more than 12 million readers. The company has also upgraded its Web site with “next-generation” room planning software and a customizable fabric draping program.
“Thomasville’s latest activities are strong examples of our execution of the Furniture Brands strategy,” said FBI Chairman and CEO Ralph Scozzafava. “We will build on this momentum at the High Point market in October, where Furniture Brands will introduce several new lines that incorporate in-depth consumer testing. This rigorous testing process, which Furniture Brands is pioneering in this industry, lets us bring to our retailer partners products that have the designs and features that today’s consumer wants. Our commitment to research will drive improved financial performance at all Thomasville stores through increased demand, better value and more efficient inventory metrics. This commitment to drive the success of our dealers and company-owned stores will only increase as we move into 2009.”
October 5,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on October 2008
• The overall September unemployment rate remained at 6.1 percent, still the highest rate in five years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Non-farm employment declined by 159,000 in September.
Overall manufacturing employment dipped by 51,000, or 0.4 percent, in September, with manufacturing employment in the home furnishings sector down 5,300 jobs, or 1.1 percent measured against August figures. Compared with September of 2007, total manufacturing employment declined by 442,000 jobs or 3.2 percent, and home furnishings manufacturing lost 47,100 jobs or 5.3 percent.
On the retail side of the home furnishings industry, employment slipped 0.4 percent, or 2,300 jobs, in September versus August, to 565,000 jobs. That’s a decline of 1.9 percent from September of last year, based on BLS records. September’s overall retail trade employment declined 2.3 percent versus August and fell 11.2 percent compared with September 2007 figures.
• In addition to disappointing housing statistics, national home sale prices continue to fall. According to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which tracks changes in the value of the residential real estate market, the index of home prices in the second quarter of 2008 dropped 2.3 percent from the first quarter to an Index value of 155.2. The base for the Index is January 2000.
Compared with the Index for the second quarter of 2007, home prices fell 15.4 percent. The Index is at its lowest point since the second quarter of 2004.
Weekly Review of Economic News (WREN) reports are summaries of recently-released economic statistical data that affect the home furnishings industry. WREN reports are compiled by HFB Research Editor Janice Chamberlain.
October 5,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedroom on October 2008
The U.S. Department of Commerce has extended the deadline for the preliminary results of its administrative and new shipper reviews of wooden bedroom furniture for the 2007 calendar year. The results of the review, which DOC initiated on August 22, had been due Oct. 2.
In an announcement in the Federal Register, DOC said completion of the results was not possible in the original time frame “because the Department needs additional time to analyze information pertaining to the respondents’ sales practices, factors of production, and corporate relationships, and to issue and review responses to supplemental questionnaires.”
DOC set a new deadline for preliminary results of the 2007 administrative and new shipper reviews of Jan. 30, 2009.
October 5,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Case Goods on October 2008
Seven more members of the American Home Furnishings Alliance, including all but one company in the La-Z-Boy Case Goods Division, have implemented the organization’s EFEC (“Enhancing Furniture’s Environmental Culture”) environmental to achieve measurable environmental improvements at their domestic manufacturing facilities.
Companies that passed an EFEC audit in September include: C.R. Laine, Hickory, N.C.; Hickory Chair, Hickory, N.C.; Lea Ins., Greensboro, N.C.; American Drew, Greensboro, N.C.; Kincaid’s Hudson, N.C., and Taylorsville, N.C., plants; and Vaughan-Bassett, Galax, Va. Lea, American Drew and Kincaid all are part of the La-Z-Boy Case Goods Division.
These companies join Stanley (Martinsville, Va. plant), La-Z-Boy Utah (upholstery), Vaughan in Galax, Va., and Bernhardt, based in Lenior, N.C., on the list of companies with EFEC-registered manufacturing facilities.
AHFA launched EFEC in 1999. Becoming EFEC-registered requires a company to analyze and better understand the environmental impact of its processes, raw materials and finished products on a facility-by-facility basis. AHFA said Interest in EFEC has soared since its new Sustainable by Design certification program was unveiled in 2007. Sustainable by Design is a more comprehensive environmental program that calls on companies to implement sustainable business practices throughout their entire supply chain. However, companies interested in Sustainable by Design certification must first complete EFEC registration for all their domestic facilities.
C.R. Laine is the first AHFA member company to complete EFEC and then achieve full Sustainable by Design certification.
“The purpose of EFEC and SBD is to help member companies begin a journey of continual environmental improvement,” said Bill Perdue, AHFA’s vice president of environmental affairs. “Certification is not a stopping point–rather, it is recognition for companies that have worked diligently to ensure that all of the systems and measures are in place to continue and accelerate their environmental improvements.”
Several other AHFA member companies are working toward EFEC registration, including the remaining plants in La-Z-Boy’s Upholstery Division. Stanley, too, is working to register its divisions in Robbinsville and Stanleytown, Va.
Perdue said AHFA expects many of these companies will work toward Sustainable by Design certification.