Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
June 5,
2007 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Delivery on June 2007
Traffic at the nation’s major retail container ports should reach a record high in August, then drop off slightly in September before hitting the year’s traditional peak in October, according to the monthly Port Tracker report released Wednesday by the National Retail Federation and Global Insight.
“Cargo volumes are continuing to grow in the buildup toward peak season,” Global Insight Economist Paul Bingham said. “All of the U.S. ports we follow are operating without congestion from the harbor to the gate, and even though rail performance deteriorated slightly in May, pressure on intermodal train operations has eased. While container traffic is growing, it’s growing at a slower pace than the same time last year, which will help ensure that the system will have adequate capacity to provide acceptable performance over the next six months.”
August is forecast at 1.53 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) of container traffic, breaking last October’s record of 1.51 million, while September is forecast at 1.49 million. October, traditionally the busiest month of the year as retailers bring in merchandise for the holiday sales season, is forecast at 1.54 million this year.
“Summer is only starting, but retailers are already looking ahead to the holiday season and the logistics of making sure merchandise is on the shelves when consumers come looking for it,” NRF Vice President and International Trade Counsel Erik Autor said. “The holiday season is the most important part of the year for our industry, so it’s essential that we starting looking at these numbers and watching for any problems as early as possible.”
All U.S. ports covered by Port Tracker—Los Angeles/Long Beach, 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 1.3 million TEUs of container traffic in April, the most recent month for which actual numbers are available. That was down 5.8 percent from April 2006 but up 2 percent from this March.
Volume continued up in May, which was estimated at 1.35 million TEUs (down 1.2 percent from May 2006). June is forecast at 1.4 million TEUs (down 0.17 percent from June 2006), July at 1.48 million TEUs (up 6 percent from July 2006), August at 1.53 million TEUs (up 3.3 percent from August 2006), September at 1.49 million TEUs (flat from September 2006), and October at 1.54 million TEUs (up 2 percent from September 2006).
June 4,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on June 2007
Haverty Furniture reported Monday that May sales compared to the same month last year at its 122 stores decreased by 14.2 percent to $64 million. On a comparable-store basis, sales dropped 15.5 percent.
“Our May sales reflect the continued weakness in the retail furniture sector,” said Clarence Smith, president and CEO. “We faced difficult comparisons against last year’s strong May comparable sales increase of 17.9 percent.”
Smith said hopeful signs included a 2 percent increase in total written sales over the Memorial Day weekend.
“We have made several changes in our operations to adjust them to meet current sales levels. However our current quarter-to-date sales are tracking below our first-quarter results, and current break-even levels,” Smith said. “We are evaluating additional methods designed to increase sales and continue our efforts in reducing our operating costs.”
June 4,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on June 2007
Stickley Furniture, Manlius, N.Y., has leased a 13,770-square-foot store at the new, mixed-use Morrison development in Charlotte, N.C., according to an announcement by the project’s developers, Grubb Properties and Casto Lifestyle Properties.
The 107-year-old furniture manufacturer and retailer with more than a dozen stores will be located in a building that also includes an Earth Fare grocery store, luxury condominiums and apartments. Nearby retailers include a Barnes & Noble book store.
“We’re very excited about the new location,” said Edward Audi, Stickley’s vice president of strategic planning. “We have a strong customer base in North Carolina and believe that we’ll be well positioned to serve the growing Charlotte market, as well as discriminating buyers from Asheville and other convenient locations.”
June 4,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Upholstery on June 2007
A Calhoun County circuit court judge has reduced the damages in the $9.425 million judgment against Franklin Corp. to $3.8 million for four former employees of the Mississippi upholstery producer, according to The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss.
The state’s tort reform laws puts caps on punitive damages for the subjective pain and suffering clause of lawsuits.
Last week, the jury had awarded the four former employees $1.925 million in compensatory damages and $7.5 million in punitive damages. The judge lowered the punitive damages to $1.8 million.
Franklin plans to appeal the ruling.
Hassel Franklin, founder and chief executive officer of the company, told the newspaper the company denies the allegations and believes the case was decided incorrectly.
The lawsuit focused on the company’s use of an adhesive containing the hazardous chemical propyl bromide from 1999 to 2004. The workers said they were exposed to the chemical in enclosed booths with no ventilation, respiratory, eye or skin protection during their 10 to 12 hour days.
June 4,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Las Vegas on June 2007
The World Market Center in Las Vegas is readying its new on-site recycling center and refuse system for the Summer 2007 Market, July 30-August 3. The first phase of World Market Center’s on-site recycling center and refuse system was launched prior to the Winter 2007 Market last January, when more than 70 percent of all refuse was recycled. During a six-week period, World Market Center recycled 350 tons of cardboard alone.
Prior to the Winter Market, WMC partnered with Las Vegas-based Environmental Recycling Services, a vendor experienced with trade shows and hotel casinos, to find eco-friendly solutions for efficiently removing and recycling refuse from product displays, including cardboard, polystyrene foam and bubble wrap.
During the Winter market, World Market Center had a recycling baler and a polystyrene (foam) extruder in operation, which recycles the volume of foam by 98 percent. Additional equipment is being put in place prior to next month’s July market to further advance the on-site center’s output and efficiency.
The Sustainable Furniture Council, a non-profit industry association committed to promoting sustainable practices within the home furnishings industry, applauded WMC’s efforts.
“Our organization is seeded in the fact that all of us in the furniture industry have to take responsibility and do what we can,” SFC Executive Director Susan Inglis said. “I’m glad World Market Center is recycling and doing what it can, and I’m delighted it’s doing something the people of World Market Center can be proud of.”
Gerry Sawyer, chief operating officer for World Market Center, said the on-site recycling center and refuse system helps accomplish WMC’s goal to recycle a high percentage of all waste produced.
“Not only are we reducing stress on landfills, but we are being a good neighbor to the community,” he said, adding that World Market Center is helping to reduce emissions by bringing recycling on site and eliminating the need to transport refuse from World Market Center along city highways and surface streets.
“World Market Center has the potential to become one of the largest on-site recycling centers in Southern Nevada,” Sawyer said. “With the new system, we are able to dispose of materials in a rapid, efficient manner.”
The refuse system has already started paying back the cost of the equipment—not to mention preventing hundreds of dumpster loads of waste from going to Clark County landfills, according to Sawyer.
“For the year 2007 alone, we expect to see total cost savings of well over 70 percent off our trash bill. When Building C comes online in July of 2008, the annual cost savings due to the refuse system will be in excess of $300,000,” Sawyer said.
Long-time industry expert Peter Frigeri of Expo Ease recently launched trade publication Expos Going Green, which covers sustainability in meetings and exhibitions said that becoming more environmentally conscious as an industry centers on small practices being started and gaining momentum.
“It can make a large impact if everyone does just a little bit,” Frigeri said. “And, for any building or show, recycling is probably the best place to start.”
In addition to the recycling center, WMC’s environmental initiatives this summer include the previously announced Living Green Pavilion, a partnership with Sustainable Furniture Council, a new exhibition will highlighting eco-friendly home furnishings at the Sands Expo temporary show, opening on Tuesday July 31.