Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
March 20,
2007 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on March 2007
Mega Group has been named the 2007 Retailer of the Year for the Canadian residential furniture industry by the Ontario Furniture Manufacturers Association.
Michael Graydon, president and chief executive officer of Mega Group, will accept the award at a gala dinner scheduled for Aug. 13.
Mega Group is Canada’s largest co-operatively owned buying and marketing group serving independent furniture, bedding, household appliance and electronics retailers. It is headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and has branch offices in Mississauga, Ont., and Boucherville, Quebec.
“Mega Group has helped to change the face of independent furniture retailing in this country,” said Laine Reynolds, chairman of the OFMA’s board of directors. “Through spirited leadership and innovation, they have given independent retailers the tools they need to compete in an ever-changing competitive environment dominated by national and multi-national giants.”
Mega Group as it’s known today formed in 1992 when V.I.P. Stores entered into a strategic alliance with its Quebec-based counterpart, Magasins D’Ameublement B.V. Inc. For the next eight years, they worked to improve the services they offered while maintaining their individual identities and autonomy. In 2000, both groups agreed to fully integrate into one, creating the largest member-owned group in Canada.
Currently, Mega Group has more than 600 members representing 714 retail storefronts with total estimated retail sales of close to $2 billion, and operates three well-known retail brands: Countrywide Stores, Multi-Meubles and Sleep Experience. Mega Group also has strategic alliances providing support services to other retail organizations including the Allied Home Furnishings Network, Les marchands PAS, Dufresne Retail Solutions Group, The Appliance Alliance, Audio Video Unlimited and Stereo Plus.
Earlier this year, Mega acquired Brand Source Canada and entered into a new strategic alliance with the California-based AVB Brand Source. For the past seven years, Mega has been recognized as one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies and recently received the prestigious Platinum Award. In 2007, Mega Group was named one of Canada’s Top 20 Employers for the second year in a row.
March 20,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in High Point on March 2007
Only six weeks after sustaining extensive damage from a fire on Jan. 22, restoration of Harden Furniture’s 200 N. Hamilton showroom in High Point is complete in time for next week’s market, when Harden will launch a new environmental initiative, the Living Canopy Project.
Smoke from the January electrical fire, which began in a storage area in the Harden showroom, destroyed most of the furniture and accessories in the showroom, as well as the carpet, walls, floors, phone systems, computers and other infrastructure. Other exhibitors in 200 N. Hamilton sustained damage, but none as extensive as Harden. No one was injured in the blaze.
Beth Penley, vice president of design, Harden Furniture, along with Harden showroom managers Martha Lee Marvin and Jamie Glenn, have worked days, nights and weekends since the fire to ensure that the showroom will be ready for market. In less than seven weeks, the space has been gutted down to the cinderblock walls, and all of the flooring, drywall and ceilings replaced. Extensive upgrades have also been made to the electric and telecommunications systems.
In addition to the extensive repairs, Harden has made several improvements to the showroom, such as, higher ceilings and walls in several galleries, a reorganized layout that improves traffic flow and efficiency, new climate control systems, and new flooring and sisal carpet.
March 20,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on March 2007
Toronto-based ViewIT Technologies, formerly Masterplan Magnetics, is launching a new product called 3Dream.net at the High Point Market Monday. The 3D visualization tool enables furniture sales associates and designers to create and instantly modify room designs for a customer’s floor plan using 3D models of furniture, accessories, window treatments and floor coverings the shopper is considering.
The product, which was beta tested throughout 2006, is described as a virtual-reality design tool that allows shoppers to “walk through” the rooms as plans are being created on a computer screen using the retailer’s subscription-based service. Jim Gabbert, chairman of Gabberts, Minneapolis, is scheduled to press the system’s “on” button to launch the service on Monday at 11 a.m. in the Design Resource Center on the ground floor of the International Home Furnishings Center.
“The truth is, most people have difficulty visualizing what a piece of furniture or a design will look like in reality,” Gabbert said. “3Dream gives customers a way to see what their design plans will actually look like in their homes. Then, customers are more likely to purchase an entire room setting instead of just a couple of pieces. I think the ease with which you can experiment, changing fabrics and colors, helps people realize their goal to create homes that are a personal expression of their own style.”
March 20,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on March 2007
Furniture Row, the Denver-based chain of more than 330 stores, is calling on Nascar Nextel Cup driver Kenny Wallace to take a lead role in the demolition of one of its older stores to clear the way for a 93,000-square-foot Furniture Row Shopping Center in Denver.
On Monday at 2 p.m., Wallace, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet, will take the controls of an excavator bearing the number of his race car and crash it through an Oak Express store on North Broadway Avenue. A demolition crew will finish the job to make way for a new, expanded store. Furniture Row Shopping Centers typically include Oak Express, Bedroom Expressions, Sofa Market and Denver Mattress Company nameplates.
Furniture Row is one of the only sponsors in the top division of Nascar racing to operate its own race team, and it’s the only team based west of the Mississippi. The team has been struggling this year after failing to qualify for the season-opening Daytona 500. Kenny Wallace’s best finish this year is a 24th place in Las Vegas.
March 20,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Upholstery on March 2007
Stefanie Lucas has been named president and chief executive officer of Rowe Furniture, succeeding Jerry Birnbach in the position.
Birnbach will remain as an advisor to the company, according to a release by Sun Capital Partners, the company that acquired Rowe earlier this year.
Prior to the management change, Lucas was senior vice president of marketing and merchandising for the company.
“We are pleased to appoint Stefanie as Rowe’s new president and CEO,” said Christopher T. Metz, managing director of Sun Capital. “Stefanie has an extensive marketing, sales and management career in home furnishings and brings the right blend of experience and leadership to Rowe to further grow and accentuate our focus on strategic objectives and core competencies. She is uniquely qualified to lead the management team to maximize Rowe’s position in the custom upholstered furniture industry.”
Birnbach had been with Rowe since 1956. He has served as the company’s chairman of the board since 1976 and was president of the company off and on through the years. Prior to being named president in 1972, he was vice president of merchandising and sales. Sun Capital acquired the company out of bankruptcy in January through its affiliate Lexington-Rowe Furniture Holding Co.