Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
October 8,
2012 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Rugs on October 9, 2012
Home décor and rug supplier Surya will host HGTV personality and designer Candice Olson in its High Point showroom Saturday at 2 p.m.
Olson will be there to discuss the design inspirations behind her product line. The appearance will follow an earlier lunch seminar sponsored by International Market Centers and the Carolinas Chapter of the International Furnishings and Design Association entitled - "Modern Meets Traditional."
The Surya showroom is located at 4100 Showplace.
The Toronto-based designer is known for creating sophisticated spaces that combine elements of classic design with a fresh, modern twist. The Candice Olson/Surya partnership has steadily grown since its beginnings in 2008. Today, Surya offers retailers a comprehensive Candice Olson home accessories line with more than 150 rug styles priced between $399 to $3,000 and more than 40 pillow options. This High Point Market will mark also the launch of additional 30 new rugs from the prolific designer.
"We are honored to have Candice visiting our showroom during market," said Satya Tiwari, Surya president. "Many of our retail and designer customers are passionate followers of her signature aesthetic. It's a treat to provide them an opportunity to meet her in person and learn more about her approach to product and interior design."
October 8,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in High Point on October 9, 2012
International Market Centers has a new marketing strategy for its High Point Furniture Market properties that incorporates a new Web site and social accounts.
We are excited to introduce our new marketing strategy for Fall High Point Market, said IMC Vice President of Home Furnishings Marketing Karen Olson. We previously focused on individual marketing strategies for each property, but we have now streamlined our approach to be much more cohesive, bringing all properties under one IMC umbrella, while still maintaining the unique personality of the various venues and destinations.
The new campaign--The Center of Market. The Heart of Your Business.--will help communicate IMC High Points value proposition by showcasing IMC properties, highlighting the diversity of products and demonstrating the benefits of leasing and visiting IMC properties during market.
IMC merged four existing Web sites, including those for Showplace, Market Square Properties and IHFC, and created one cohesive Web presence for IMC High Point.
Additionally, the new social media plan mirrors the strategy behind forming the new Web site, by creating one new and improved IMC social profile. Each specific property still will receive the attention it deserves through social media promotion, but it will be accomplished via one main and recognizable profile. Tenants, buyers, distributors, media and Market attendees can begin following, liking and participating in IMC High Points social channels through the following links: on Facebook; Twitter, @imchighpointmkt; and on Pinterest.
We feel its important to unify our buildings and messages and be viewed as one company, said Olson. This streamlined approach to our social media channels will convey our prominent presence in High Point as well as give buyers compelling reasons to visit our buildings and customers.
October 8,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Case Goods on October 9, 2012
Solid wood case goods specialist Cresent Fine Furniture has expanded its Vietnam warehouse by 50 percent, adding 25,000 square feet to its climate-controlled facilities.
"We have added the space in response to the success of the new less-than-container programs that we introduced this year," said Richard Tomkins, Gallatin, Tenn.-based Cresent's director of sales & marketing. "This program is designed to allow our retail partners to reduce their inventory levels and let Cresent hold the finished goods of our best sellers in our warehouse. We take the inventory risk and cash flow burden off our customers, provide a quick turnaround and the retailer saves money."
Tomkins added that new retailers joining the program each week.
"As a result, were adding higher inventory quantities in Vietnam, he said. Today, no one wants to have to buy another container program, so were stocking five collections that can be mixed in as little as 500 cubes and delivered to their door.
The less-than-container program supplements Cresents Tennessee warehouse, which retailers use for sold orders or to replenish best sellers weekly.
October 8,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on October 9, 2012
Global bedding vendor Kingsdown has formed new alliances with manufacturing and retail partners in Asia and the Middle East.
The top 10 bedding producer recently signed three licensing deals granting its partners the right to manufacture and distribute select products including My Side mattresses and bedMATCH technology. The agreements will bring Mebane, N.C.-based Kingsdown's product into China, and multiple Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, while the company renews its licensee in Malaysia.
Entering the worlds fastest-growing major retail market, Kingsdown will see its product on showroom floors in China by late October. Working in conjunction with Airland, the company will place both My Side and the bedMATCH sleep diagnostic technology in 35 stores within the first year, by targeting every major first-tier and second-tier city nationwide. Airland is securing mixed retail locations including furniture and fashion malls, strip malls and free standing shops. Additionally, Airland will participate in joint product development with Kingsdown, with all products tested and certified by the Sleep to Live Institute.
This entry into China is very exciting for us, and we are confident that we found the right partner. Airland understands the My Side product and the value of the Sleep to Live Institutes scientific research, which sets us apart from the competition, said Kingsdown President and CEO Frank Hood. With its large emerging middle class and the demand for American designed product, we are entering China at the optimal time and we expect accelerated growth in this market.
In the GCC, Kingsdown signed a licensing deal with Symbol Mattress Industries LLC, and the first seven stores offering both My Side and bedMATCH opened in July in the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Using a variety of retail environments, Symbol and Kingsdown will evaluate which shops are most successful before opening additional locations. Moving further into the gulf region, Symbol plans a future expansion into other countries in the GCC, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Renewing a successful licensing agreement in Malaysia that originated in 2010, Kingsdown continues its relationship with Sweet Dreams, which will have 45 stores featuring My Side and bedMATCH by the end of the year. Sweet Dreams served as the companys first Sleep to Live licensee and has proven to be a great partner for the company as it worked to implement an American brand into South East Asia.
Through our relationship with Sweet Dreams, we learned that retailers overseas really appreciate having a Kingsdown team on the ground to help with sourcing, marketing, customer service and beyond. We are as involved as our partner wants and needs us to be and thats in sharp contract to many other companies. As we work to expand our global distribution we understand that each and every relationship needs to truly be a joint effort, and we have the resources to make that happen, said Kingsdown Senior Vice President of Global Brand Management Lee Hinshaw.
The Sleep to Live Institutes signature product, MySide, caters to couples--with two individual sleep zones in one mattress. The dual zones can be comprised of foam, gel, or latex and are recommended through the bedMATCH diagnostic system. bedMATCH uses 18 statistical measurements and 1,000 calculations to help consumers pick the best mattress for their body type.
October 8,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on October 9, 2012
With the onset of an allergy season rated the worst in decades by the Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America, Spring Air has launched a media tour focused on its line of Asthma & Allergy Friendly beds.
Airing this month in more than 20 U.S. markets identified by AAFA as among the nations top 2012 Fall Allergy Capitals, the media tour features live and pre-taped TV and radio interviews with Dr. Beth Corn and AAFAs Brian Oliver.
Dr. Corn is a certified allergy and immunology specialist and assistant professor of medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. Oliver is senior marketing and corporate relations manager for AAFA, based in Landover, Md.
The interviews, sponsored by Spring Air, focus not only on announcing the years most challenging cities for allergy sufferers, but also offer tips to consumers for reducing indoor allergens year-round.
To limit allergens like dust mites, pollen and pet dander commonly found in the home, consumers are being advised to sleep on an allergen-barrier mattress such as Spring Airs Breathe product; to keep windows closed, to vacuum regularly and to change their furnace filters every 30 to 90 days.
This outreach is an extension of Breathes brand objective and slogan, explained Spring Air President Rick Robinson. We want the 70 million U.S. consumers with asthma and allergies to 'Live Healthier' by creating both a better sleeping environment and an overall healthier home environment.
The interviews featuring Dr. Corn and Oliver are now airing on morning news shows on NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX affiliates, as well as on radio talk programs serving major metro markets. Key allergy capitals targeted on the tour include New York, Boston, Seattle, Minneapolis, Raleigh, San Antonio and Las Vegas.
With millions of dust mites living in your bed, pets releasing dander as well as mold and pollen circulating in the air, reduction of allergens inside the home is an important part of asthma and allergy prevention, Dr. Corn said during the tour.
Explaining why this seasons pollen counts are unusually high, Oliver noted that the drought that affected so much of the country in 2012 was one of the worst in decades. Rains help depress pollen but in a dry environment, pollen is more likely to be airborne.
Also running in cable network syndication is a 30-second AAFA commercial that promotes asthma & allergy friendly products such as Breathe and directs consumers to visit allergycapitals.com, where AAFA posts the complete list of the nations 100 worst impacted cities.
Spring Airs Breathe mattress also is being promoted for media pick-up in a three-minute webcast on AAFAs site and in an AAFA news release targeted to the nations consumer and business media.
This multi-media program is the first of several outreach efforts we plan to make on behalf of our Breathe line, timed to coincide with the two seasons, spring and fall, most likely to impact the 70 million-plus Americans with asthma or allergy issues, Robinson said.
Certified by AAFA after more than a year of development and scientific testing at third-party, accredited laboratories, Spring Air Breathe products were introduced earlier this year at the January Las Vegas Furniture Market.
AAFA is a leading non-profit patient organization dedicated to fighting asthma, allergic diseases and related conditions.