Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
July 9,
2007 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on July 2007
Tracy Johnson has joined
Home Furnishings Business as director of the magazine’s new online shopping platform, marketblackbook.com.
Prior to joining Home Furnishings Business, Johnson was a marketing consultant for the International Home Furnishings Center, the largest showroom building in High Point. She will receive her MBA from Wake Forest University in August.
Johnson reports to Amy Kyle, publisher of
Home Furnishings Business.
“Tracy’s intelligence, humor and workaholic tendencies make her an excellent fit with the
HFB team,” Kyle said. “As a person, she totally fits our brand. Look forward to getting to know her, if you don’t already.”
Johnson said she is looking forward to developing marketblackbook.com in direct response to buyers’ needs.
“I’m honored to be part of an innovative, forward thinking group of professionals,” Johnson said. “The spirit of
HFB is very contagious and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Marketblackbook.com will allow retailers and designers to search for product and partners from their desktops. The platform, scheduled to go live for buyers later this summer, will allow them to search for product and partners by business model, product category, style, price point and market.
Retailers can go online today to preregister for the Web site, and be automatically entered in a contest to win free limousine service at an upcoming market of the winner’s choice. Manufacturers and marketers of product will be able to begin uploading product photography, product information and company information later this month.
“We’re excited to launch marketblackbook.com,” Kyle said. “It dovetails beautifully with our mission of providing relevant content that matters to our readers. We live in a ridiculously fragmented industry, and trying to make it a bit more manageable is smart business.”
For more information about marketblackbook.com, e-mail Johnson at tjohnson@napco.com, or call her at 336.906.8925.
July 9,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Casual Furniture on July 2007
The owners of Woodard, one of the best-known brand names in outdoor furniture, are evaluating strategic options for the company after selling the majority of their golf course and theater operations, according to an announcement Monday.
Chicago-based Woodard has been owned by CC Industries and the Crown family for 20 years and has a history dating back more than 142 years. A press release said the company has been in discussions with potential financial and operating partners, but nothing has yet been finalized.
The release said that Woodard, which includes the Landgrave and Lyon Shaw brands, is “more profitable than ever” and is seeing growth in all segments of the company.
“The management team fully supports the Crown family during this process of evaluation,” said Woodard President Dean Engelage. “We remain focused on current execution and are committed to building on our success is the future. Woodard is well positioned for continued growth and improvement.”
The company has manufacturing facilities in Owosso, Mich., and Hangzhou, China. According to Forbes magazine, which included CC Industries in its ranking of the nation’s largest private companies at 218 last year, the company’s holdings include the truck trailer manufacturer Great Dane and farm equipment maker Bush Hog.
July 9,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Upholstery on July 2007
La-Z-Boy has named Michael Skrzypczak vice president and treasurer. He was formerly corporate treasurer of Intermet Corporation, a $1 billion auto supplier.
Succeeding Mark Stegeman, who left the company in April, Skrzypczak reports to Senior Vice President and CFO Mike Riccio.
“Mike will be a strong addition to our team,” Riccio said. “I am delighted he is joining La-Z-Boy, and am confident he will provide strong leadership to the company’s treasury arm.”
Skrzypczak will be responsible for all treasury functions, including cash management, credit and banking relationships and also will have responsibility for developing and maintaining systems for forecasting and tracking cash flow while managing the company’s relationships with banks in the U.S. and other countries. He also will have responsibility for directing the company’s risk management and insurance programs, and will work with Riccio in negotiating and structuring financing transactions.
July 8,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on July 2007
The Navarra family, owner of Jerome’s Furniture, has named Lee Goodman president and chief executive officer of the San Diego, Calif.-based retailer.
Goodman, who had served as chief operating officer, joined Jerome’s in December 2005.
Jerry Navarra, who preceded Goodman as president, will continue to serve as the chairman of the board and company spokesperson. Ann Navarra will continue her position as vice president, finance. Mark Navarra and Jim Navarra, third-generation family members in Jerome’s, will join the board of directors, and will retain their present operating positions.
“The Navarra family believes theses changes will strengthen our management team and will support the long-term success of the company,” said Jerry Navarra in a statement announcing Goodman’s appointment. “The Jerome’s management team will continue our commitment to the sustained health and development of our company.”
July 8,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on July 2007
Traffic at the nation’s major retail container ports is moving smoothly and should hit a record high in August despite the threat of a short-term clerical workers’ strike at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to the monthly Port Tracker report released Thursday by the National Retail Federation and Global Insight.
“Los Angeles and Long Beach are under some threat of an office clerical union strike in the near future that could disrupt the ports’ operations if contract negotiations are not resolved,” Global Insight Economist Paul Bingham said. “With holidays already scheduled for three days in July, a shutdown due to a strike could cause problems for both ports. Aside from the situation at LA/Long Beach, the rest of the major retail container ports across the country are operating without congestion from harbor to gate.”
LA/Long Beach, though, is a major port of entry for furniture goods arriving from Asia, as well as other retail merchandise.
“These are the nation’s two largest retail container ports, and retailers will be watching this situation very closely,” NRF Vice President and International Trade Counsel Erik Autor said. “With the back-to-school season upon us and the holiday coming soon, retailers need to be prepared to handle any disruptions that might occur.”
Rank-and-file members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63, the Marine Clerks Association, recently authorized a strike, but negotiations were continuing even though the union’s contract expired June 30. Port Tracker has moved the ports’ congestion rating from low to moderate, because of the possible job action.
All other U.S. ports covered by Port Tracker--Oakland, Tacoma and Seattle on the West Coast; New York/New Jersey, Hampton Roads, Charleston and Savannah on the East Coast; and Houston on the Gulf Coast--are currently rated “low” for congestion, the same as last month.
Nationwide, the ports surveyed handled 1.37 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of container traffic in May, the most recent month for which actual numbers are available. That was down 0.2 percent from May 2006 but up 3.3 percent from this April. Volume continued up in June, which was estimated at 1.4 million TEU (up 0.1 percent from June 2006), and July is forecast at 1.48 million TEU (up 6.3 percent from July 2006).
Ports in the survey are expected to set a record high in August, which is forecast at 1.54 million TEU, up 3.4 percent from last August and easily breaking last October’s record of 1.51 million TEU. Volume should drop to 1.51 million TEU in September but will still be up 1.4 percent from last September. October, traditionally the busiest month of the year as retailers bring in merchandise for the holiday sales season, is forecast at 1.57 million TEU, a 3.9 percent increase from a year ago and a new record. After the October peak, traffic should drop to 1.47 million TEU in November (up 4.1 percent from November 2006) and follow its historical pattern of slowing down for the winter.