Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
June 4,
2007 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Delivery on June 2007
Rustic furniture vendor Gonzalez & Associates has opened a new Southern California warehouse in Ontario, Calif., in a 45,000-square-foot facility it owns but had previously leased to Brownwood Furniture, which has relocated.
President Eric Gonzalez, son of owner Gustavo Gonzalez, plans to stock both Mexican rustic furniture and Chinese imported goods at the facility, which also will offer third-party logistical services to other vendors.
Eric Gonzalez also manages a third-party logistics and warehousing service in High Point.
June 4,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on June 2007
Area rug manufacturer and importer Capel Inc., Troy, N.C., has named Laura Freitag sales manager for its Central Region, which covers 17 Midwestern and Atlantic Coast states.
Freitag has worked at Capel as a sales representative for more than seven years and brings 15 years of home furnishing sales experience to the position.
“Laura has performed outstandingly in key selling positions with Capel and will utilize her strengths in dealer relations, product knowledge and sales training to enhance sales in these key markets,” said Vice President of Sales Allen Robertson.
Freitag will retain primary selling responsibilities for major accounts in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky in addition to her new duties.
Freitag is a third-generation sales representative and is one of five family members currently selling home furnishings on the road. After graduating from Ohio State University in 1992, Freitag joined her father with the sales team at Singer Furniture, where she grew a new territory to more than $1 million in volume during her first two years with the company. Since joining Capel in 1999, she has increased sales in her territory by 600 percent.
June 3,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on June 2007
San Francisco-based Zocalo announced Friday the opening of a new warehouse in Surabaya, Indonesia.
The Surabaya warehouse will hold Zocalo’s best-selling collections Sterling Park, Cinnamon Bay and Breckenridge.
“The success of our warehouse in Vietnam prompted us to do the same in Indonesia,” said Mike Pierce, director of merchandising for Zocalo. “This will allow us to ship mixed direct containers quickly and will also give us a cushion against demand spikes.”
The new warehouse in Indonesia will have around 15,000 square feet to start, and has options for future expansion.
June 3,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on June 2007
A chair designed by Sauder Manufacturing, Archbold, Ohio, that converts from a desk chair to a floor rocker won two top awards last month in the New Product Design Competition at the 2007 Plastic Parts Innovation Conference, the company announced Monday.
Called Trey, the multi-function chair received the Retail and Consumer Category Award and People’s Choice Award, which is decided by conference attendees. Designed to appeal to multi-taking college students, Trey converts from an office chair to a low-slung rocker for use in playing video games. It’s Sauder’s first venture into designing and manufacturing using plastic.
“Trey is an attractive, functional, comfortable and just plain fun piece of furniture,” said Sauder President Phil Bontrager. “It looks like a simple desk chair, but students and consumers alike are finding that Trey is really a lifestyle accessory. We are proud of the outstanding team that developed Trey.”
June 3,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on June 2007
A survey of 5,000 male callers to 1800mattress.com’s call center shows that 38 percent are “unhappy to miserable” with their sleeping arrangements—due to the mattress or pillows selected by their partner. More than half of the men surveyed said they had little participation in the mattress-buying process.
John O’Connell, senior vice president of 1800mattress.com, Long Island City, N.Y., said the myriad of available mattress options can be confusing for some shoppers.
“Men and women have different needs in bed, particularly when one partner may have a health issue like back pain or an allergic reaction to a type of bedding material,” he said. “This was not a mainstream problem 10 or 15 years ago, because there was so little choice in the type or style of mattress available. The male partner in bed just put up with a less-than-adequate night’s sleep in bed, not thinking he had options.” With Father’s Day approaching, 1800mattress.com, which operates 104 retail showrooms, is focusing on helping men and their partners select a mattress that can help both of them get a comfortable night’s sleep. O’Connell said new technology—like memory foam, air beds and dual-core products—can help partners find solutions customized to their individual needs.