Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
July 26,
2006 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Las Vegas on July 2006
To nobody’s surprise, attendance at the Las Vegas market was off compared to last July’s debut show, as soft retail activity and searing heat kept some East Coast buyers at home.
Still, Vegas kept its momentum as an order-writing market, and an important venue for introductions. Exhibitors like the fact that orders written here will give introductions that ship in Fall a chance at retail before the end of the year.
With a second building for permanent showroom space coming on line in January, exhibitors expect to see a rush of customers along the lines of last summer’s debut show.
If nothing else, business this week in Las Vegas showed this market definitely has legs, especially since exhibitors showing at other markets appear committed to rolling out new product.
Broyhill, for example, debuted another whole-home collection, Carson Manor, in Vegas.
“Our dealer attendance here is around 50-50 for people we saw at April market and people who didn’t come,” said Mike McCollum, senior vice president of case goods merchandising. “It’s important to have new product for dealers we saw in High Point, and it’s all new for the dealers who weren’t at that market.”
As of Wednesday, attendance was off at Pulaski, but written business was tracking ahead of the January show, thanks in part to new order-scanning capability in the showroom, said Bill Sibbick, senior vice president of sales.
“People seem to write more orders here than they do in High Point, and we get more traction with introductions here,” he said. “I’m sure glad we had this market with business being so challenging. We’ll ship our new Keepsakes bedrooms in late September or early October, so we’ll get a few extra turns in the year.”
Klaussner introduced a new bedroom and dining room, and some new upholstery frames, but was highlighting new quick-ship FOB program from warehousing in China.
“We’ve had good written business nationwide here,” said Jeff Davis, senior vice president of marketing and strategic development. “When business is tough, people are trying to re-merchandise their floor. You get a nice bump here, too, since it gives us an opportunity to follow up on discussions you might have started in High Point. I’d say we way exceeded our expectations here, considering what’s going on at retail.”
July 25,
2006 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on July 2006
Bedding manufacturer and retailer Select Comfort Corp. reported a 22 percent jump in second-quarter 2006 sales, compared to the same prior-year period, to $188.6 million.
Net income comparing this year’s second quarter to 2005’s was up 37 percent to $10.7 million, while earnings per share rose 46 percent to $0.19. Earnings per share data reflects the company’s 3-for-2 stock split that took effect on June 8.
Year-to-date sales rose 23 percent to $401.4 million over the first six months of 2005, while net income was 36 percent ahead of last year at $22.5 million.
Net income and earnings per share in 2005 did not include stock option expense. If second-quarter 2005 results had included the effects of stock option expense, then earnings would have been $0.12 per diluted share in the prior year, and second quarter 2006 earnings of $0.19 per diluted share would represent earnings growth of 58 percent. On a year-to-date basis, 2005 earnings would have been $0.25 per diluted share, and 2006 earnings of $0.40 per diluted share would represent earnings growth of 60 percent.
“The company’s second-quarter performance is particularly gratifying in this challenging consumer and retail environment and once again demonstrates the breadth and strength of our multi-channel distribution,” said Bill McLaughlin, Select Comfort chairman and chief executive officer. “Our distribution expansion provides convenient channel alternatives for consumers and enables us to maintain sales growth rates well in excess of industry averages. We successfully leveraged productivity advances and controlled costs, which led to significant margin expansion this quarter. We believe we will continue to achieve margin gains over the balance of the year while continuing to invest in long-term growth initiatives intended to sustain the company’s superior growth rates.”
July 25,
2006 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Las Vegas on July 2006
In addition to more than doubling permanent showroom space at the Las Vegas market, the top floor of World Market Center’s Building 2, set to open for the January 2007 show, represents an effort to turn WMC into a major business hub for the furniture industry.
WMC management took press on a tour of the 16th floor Tuesday morning to give an advance look at 20,000-square-foot area that will include industry association offices, a state-of-the-art media center and press facility, restaurants and special event spaces, and a VIP lounge overlooking downtown Las Vegas, the Strip, and panoramic views of the mountains West of the city.
“This floor is a non-revenue producing floor in that it doesn’t have showrooms, but it will have amenities to support the industry,” said David Palmer, WMC general manager.
With 1.6 million square feet and an additional 300 showrooms, the fully leased Building 2 will give the World Market Center 530 showrooms, and 3.1 million square feet of permanent space when it opens early next year.
In addition, the temporary exhibition area that has switched between the Las Vegas Convention Center and Mandalay Bay to date will move to the Cashman Center, five minutes’ drive from the WMC, for the show next January.
Construction is set to begin on Building 3 in September, and that facility will give the WMC 5 million square feet of permanent space to complement the 350,000-square-foot pavilions temporary area when it opens for the July 2008 show.
Shawn Samson, managing partner of the World Market Center traced the evolution of the facility’s “vision” during the tour.
“This concept was originally a property of 1.5 million square feet, and a $115 million project,” he said. When organizers realized the demand in the marketplace “we expanded the concept to 7.5 million square feet and a $1 billion dollar investment ... That grew to 10 million square feet and $2 billion. Now we’re committed to 12 million square feet and an investment of $3 billion, The first three buildings alone represent a $1 billion investment.”
The 21st-century global economy, he added, has changes the rules of doing business, and that WMC has a jump on other furniture markets in that regard.
“We find ourselves with markets in search of a vision,” he said. “Our vision came from the needs and the wants of the industry. The (hospitality) infrastructure of Las Vegas is an important and integral part of the Las Vegas market.”
Motioning to the view from Building 2’s 16th floor toward the rows of hotels in the background, Samson added, “I call this a $100 billion project, because the other $97 billion has already been invested.”
July 24,
2006 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on July 2006
Ken La Honta has resigned his position as chief financial officer of contemporary furnishings and accessories retailer Design Within Reach. San Francisco-based DWR currently is searching for a new CFO, and expects to announce La Honta’s replacement soon.
La Honta plans to stay in his position through the filing of the quarterly Form 10-Q or Sept. 1, whichever comes sooner. He will work with Peter Kruglinski, controller and vice president of finance, to facilitate a smooth transition. Kruglinski joined Design Within Reach to help strengthen the company’s finance, accounting, external reporting, tax, treasury and investor relations departments, as well as the company’s fulfillment center operations.
“I want to thank Ken for his hard work,” said Ray Brunner, president and chief executive officer of Design Within Reach. “We appreciate his willingness to stay on through August to work with Peter and complete the filing of our quarterly Form 10-Q, and we wish Ken well in the future. A search for his successor is well underway.”
July 24,
2006 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Las Vegas on July 2006
Powell’s showroom at Las Vegas Market has been teeming with retailers and designers. One area of their 26,000 showroom is exclusively dedicated to gaming tables - not a surprise given the location – and Powell hopes to keep their customers happy by giving away gaming chips.
The company gives dealers the chips with qualifying purchases, usually of new introductions. Purchase of a single collection can net a customer between $25 and $100 in chips. The chips can be used at Caesar’s Palace, Bally’s, Paris, Horseshoe, Flamingo, Rio, Showboat or Grand Casino’s.
The campaign was such a big hit with Powell dealers at January Market that the company has decided to bring it back. Sean Slack, Executive VP of Merchandising said, “It’s actually a repeat of a sellout. During the January market, we gave away over $10,000 worth of gaming chips to dealers and are prepared to do the same thing at this market.”
“It’s a lot of fun for our customers” said Tom Liddell, Senior VP-National Sales. “During the January market, a buyer told us that he turned his $300 worth of chips into $1500 overnight. The beauty of it is that our customers can have all the thrill of gambling, but with our money”, Liddell added.