Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
May 31,
2006 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on June 2006
Mary Frye, president of Home Furnishings International Association, has been named to the Dallas Furniture Bank Board of Directors.
The Dallas Furniture Bank, a member of the National Furniture Bank Association, is a nonprofit agency that collects and stores gently used, basic household furniture through donations from the furniture industry, businesses, hotels, motels, and individuals from the community. The furniture bank then resells the furniture to individuals and families referred to by charitable organizations.
Board members server a two-year term and are responsible for strategic planning for the bank.
Currently, president of Home Furnishings International Association, Frye is also on the board of the National Furniture Bank Association. In addition, Frye serves on other industry boards including Women in the Home Industry Today (WithIt), Furniture Industry Data Exchange (FIDX) and the Bill Cooper Salesman Fund.
“I am honored to be asked to be on the board of the Dallas Furniture Bank,” Frye said. “I look forward to using my contacts in the home furnishings industry to further the work of furniture banks across the country and particularly in Dallas.”
Through this appointment, Frye said she wants to engage the furniture industry in the mission of furniture banks and re-direct usable furniture into the hands of those in need, while helping retailers meet their profitable and charitable initiatives.
May 31,
2006 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Case Goods on June 2006
La-Z-Boy Inc. will report its fourth quarter and full fiscal 2006 year operating results after the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday.
The company will hold its quarterly investor conference call at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time Wednesday.
The dial-in phone number for the live conference call is (877) 407-3140 for callers from within the U.S. or Canada, and the number for international callers is (201) 689-8473. The call will also be webcast live and archived on the Internet, and will be available at la-z-boy.com/about/investorRelations/conf_calls.aspx.
A telephone replay will be available for a week following the call. This replay will be accessible to callers from the U.S. and Canada at (877) 660-6853 and to international callers at (201) 612-7415, enter account #286 with a Conference ID #203066.
May 31,
2006 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on June 2006
Eddie Bauer reported a loss of $35.6 million on sales of $194.5 million in first-quarter 2006. Sales for the period ended April 1 were off 12.3 percent from last year’s first quarter, when the Redmond, Wash.-based outdoor lifestyle retailer lost $16.1 million.
Historically, Bauer lost $8.6 million in the first quarter of 2005, when it was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Spiegel, which spun off Eddie Bauer last June as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. The $16.1 million loss Bauer reported for first-quarter 2006 reflects the implementation of the former parent company plan and emergence from bankruptcy as if it had been completed at the beginning of 2005.
Eddie Bauer’s total first-quarter 2006 revenues included net merchandise sales of $180.6 million, compared to $206.6 million in the prior year.
Net merchandise sales for this year’s first quarter included $125.9 million of sales from Eddie Bauer’s retail and outlet stores, $54.6 million of sales from its direct channel and $0.1 million of other merchandise sales. That compares to prior-year performance of $143.7 million of retail and outlet-store sales, $62.8 million of direct-channel sales, and $0.1 million in other merchandise sales.
First-quarter 2006 same-store sales declined 10 percent compared to the same period last year. the first quarter of 2005. The principal factor impacting the decline in gross margin percentage for first quarter 2006 versus the pro forma gross margin percentage for the prior year quarter was the higher level
Fabian Mansson, chief executive officer, said Eddie Bauer had expected a challenging first quarter.
“While we have taken aggressive steps to refocus our product collection to be better aligned with our core customers’ preferences, it is too soon to expect to see the impact of these efforts in the first quarter,” he said. “We do, however, remain confident in our direction. We believe that Eddie Bauer’s legacy and outdoor heritage continue to be strong differentiators for our brand in the marketplace, and we are taking steps to better leverage this key strength. We look forward to re-capturing positive momentum in our business and to capitalizing on the long-term potential of the Eddie Bauer brand.”
As of April 1, Eddie Bauer operated 265 retail stores and 108 outlet stores.
May 30,
2006 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on May 2006
Costco Wholesale Corp. has reported an 11 percent increase in third quarter sales of $13 billion for period ended May 7, compared to $11.75 billion during the same period last year.
Net income for the quarter increased to $235.6 million from $209.8 million for the same quarter last year.
Net sales for the first 36 weeks of fiscal 2006 increased 11 percent to $39.45 billion, from $35.50 billion during the first t36 weeks of fiscal 2005. Net income for the first thirty-six weeks of fiscal 2006 increased to $747.6 million compared to net income for the first thirty-six weeks of fiscal 2005 of $708.4 million.
Net income for the first three months of 2005 was impacted by a one-time $52.1 million income tax benefit and a cumulative pre-tax, non-cash charge of $16.0 million concerning accounting for leases. Without these adjustments net income for the first thirty-six weeks of fiscal 2005 would have been $666.3 million.
Same store sales for May were $4.71 billion, a 15 percent increase from $4.11 billion in the same four-week period of the previous year. Same store sales for the 39 weeks of fiscal 2006, which includes the first three weeks of Costco’s fiscal fourth quarter, were $43.01 billion, a 12 percent increase from $38.54 billion during the same period in fiscal 2005.
May 30,
2006 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on May 2006
Alexandra Richmond has joined Home Furnishings Business as managing editor.
Prior to joining the magazine, Richmond was a columnist and reporter for Trentonian, a daily newspaper in Trenton, N.J. She succeeds Peter Beisser, who has been named managing editor/online editor for the Publishing Media Group of North America Publishing Co.—parent company of Home Furnishings Business.
Richmond can be reached at arichmond@napco.com or by phone at (215) 238-5417.