Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
June 19,
2012 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Case Goods on June 20, 2012
Jackie Fitzgerald has joined furniture supplier Four Hands as a senior account executive.
Fitzgerald joins the Austin, Texas-based global home furnishings manufacturer and wholesaler from linen supplier Matteo, and prior to that Environment Furniture.
With more than 10 years of experience, Fitzgerald comes to Four Hands with an extensive background in sales and marketing. Through her career, Fitzgerald has held roles ranging from business development manager to director of sales and marketing.
"Jackie's talents in sales and marketing make her a perfect addition to Four Hands," said Chris Miller, national sales manager. "She brings significant value and knowledge to our team and we are glad to have her on board."
Fitzgerald will be responsible for international sales as well as customer specific projects.
June 19,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on June 2012
Amid all the hustle and bustle that is New York City, how does one bedding store, dedicated to a brand virtually unknown in the States, stand out?
That was the challenge that faced the European mattress manufacturer Coco-Mat as it planned the March 2012 opening of its inaugural U.S. retail outlet in New Yorks Soho area.
So what did the company dojust start up a conventional bedding store? Hardly. Coco-Matwhich makes beds from natural raw materials including rubber, seaweed, horsehair, cotton and woolcame up with a unique retail philosophy, implementing bold ideas that go against the norm for bedding retail.
And so far, it seems to be working.
Book a Nap
Most bedding stores allow you to do a quick test lie-down on a beda few minutes at the most, and then up to try another bed. Coco-Mat took that concept one step further, inviting consumers to give its beds a real test run by scheduling a nap in a dedicated napping area.
It was an idea of our founder, recalls Rosemary Charou, Coco-Mats U.S. operations manager based at the New York store. He said, I know that we have the beds on the floors, but how can you convince somebody who doesnt know Cocomat (to buy)?
So we said, OK, lets give (consumers) a trial. So we have created this space. Its really nice, its really relaxed. So if people are really interested in buying something and they want to try it outbecause some people are not convinced in five minutes, and when were talking about an investment for your life because youre spending your life therethey want to have a better point of view, so they can try out the bed there.
Shoppers can book the napping room for two to three hours if they want, but the majority of the people are OK with 20 or 30 minutes, Charou said. They can really feel the bed (in that time).
Charou added that this was also beneficial because it cut down on returns, saying You dont want somebody to sleep on the mattress and then return it. She added that the nap suite bed is made up with clean sheets for every customer who tries it out.
Accommodating Hotels
Another important innovation for the Coco-Mat bricks-and-mortar is a special area for hotel reps to inspect the beds. Charou noted that its particularly important to the company to get its beds placed in hotels, as thats where potential customers can best be exposed to the products.
How many times have you been to a hotel and you like the bed, and youre trying to find out what it is? she asked. Its really important, so we are working with hotels. We have more than 2,000 hotels that we are (placing) our products in each year.
Coco-Mat also uses the hotel connection to benefits its customers, bringing something new to its value proposition, working out bartering deals with hotel clients. Were getting free nights, so then we can send our customers to try the beds (at the hotels) Charou said.
Philosophy of Hospitality
Walk into the Coco-Mat store and you may feel like youre in a breezy café rather than a bedding shop.
The most special thing about Coco-Mat is the way that were receiving people and the philosophy of our hospitality, Charou stated. You enter the shop and youre getting fresh-squeezed juice and youre getting coffee and treats. You sit at a kitchen table next to (staff members). Were cooking every day.
The products are sold by what were doing here, which is creating the experience. This is what we are missing these days.
Once a customer has been greeted and served refreshments, Coco-Mats sales strategy kicks in. I ask, Do you know Coco-Mat? I introduce the company, who we are, because as were in a new market, its very important for consumers to understand our philosophy, Charou said. I ask, What do you need? Where do you sleep now? What is your problem? First, I have to hear you out, and then I can see what we can suggest. Ill present some combinations (of mattress layers and firmness), you can try them out. Then I give a quotation and a catalog if you dont want to proceed with an order the same day. Thats respectful and logical ¦ you need time to process it and see other options as well.
Besides a catalog, shoppers walk away with other free goodies: a personal towel made from recycled materials, as well as a lavender pouch for under-the-pillow aromatherapy.
Bed on a Bike?
In keeping with the green philosophy exemplified by its natural-sourced products, Coco-Mat has devised an earth-safe method of delivering its beds to customers homes: by bike!
OK, this raises two questions: how do they transport a bed by bike, and how do they pull it off on the New York City streets?
It is a (vehicle) with two bikes in front, and behind you have the truck (to hold) the mattresses, Charou said.
While this concept originated at Coco-Mats stores in Europe, she said that In New York its quite challenging. ¦ The taxi drivers dont really love us, but the rest of the people find it very nice.
In fact, the bicycles have proven to be so popular among the stores customers that plans are afoot to produce Coco-Mat bicycles to sell.
The bikes can also provide savings. If the customer really wants to deliver it himself, we have a huge bicycle outside the store, so he can take a 10 percent discount, or a five percent discount if he needs help from (a Coco-Mat staffer), said Charou. HFB
June 19,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on June 2012
In early April 2002, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul were still suffering a brutal winter despite whatever the calendar said. Suzanne and Mike Schumann, owners of St. Paul-based high-end retailer Traditions Classic Home Furnishings, were talking with customer Heather Radke, wife of Minnesota Twins pitcher Brad Radke. She suggested the Schumanns consider a store down Florida way.
We had so many good customers who were having us ship furniture to Naples, said Suzanne Schumann, president of the now three-store furniture retailer. Heathers mom was from Fort Myers, and she said we needed to open a store in the area.
So, seeking escape from the lingering northern Midwest winter, the Schumanns headed south.
Heather came in the Monday after a blizzard with her spiel, Mike Schumann recalled. It was near the end of the Florida season, so we went down on a cheap flight. When we left, there was a foot of fresh snow on the ground, and we got off the plane to 72 degrees and palm trees.
We fell in love with it instantly, Suzanne said.
The couple began checking out possible places to live.
It was the April after 9/11, and the real estate market was in a mini-collapse, and a number of people flipping properties were panicking, Mike said. We found a house we really liked and made a low-ball offer. We flew home, and the offer was accepted the next week.
We flew back down that Friday, and a commercial realtor showed us around. A high-end art gallery specializing in original artRembrandts, Warholshad gone bust. The owner said he couldnt convince people it wasnt a museum, that the pieces were for sale. We had a lease in two weeks.
The Schumanns now spend a lot of time on airplanes.
It was an impulse movewe really didnt understand the ramifications of having a 14-year-old who needed adult supervision, so were commuting back and forth all the time, Mike said. If wed gone through the whole thought process, done a whole business plan, we never would have done it.
A PLAN THAT WORKS
Traditions Classic brought the same model that worked in Minnesota to the now-thriving Florida operationa commitment to keeping its floors fresh that inspires customers to check out whats new, and a lean approach to business that helped the retailer weather the economic storms of the past few years.
The bottom line is when you go into our store, the look and feel is the personal passion and style of Suzanne and her employees, Mike said. If youre looking for very contemporary, thats not who we are. We dont think it through real hard, we just try to buy stuff we love.
If they love the look, we communicate to our customers, We can make your home look just like this.
Suzanne is the stores merchandising and design leader, while Mike runs the back office. Mike, a self-described former computer geek with Honeywell and Hewlett-Packard, said the business arose from
Suzannes dissatisfaction with her job.
We were living in St. Paul in the mid 80s, and Suzanne was working as manager of a high-end wicker store, Mike said. She got frustrated with her bosshe wouldnt even buy them a printer.
A block and a half from our house was a building that had been vacant for around 20 years, and we opened a store there (in 1987) with 1,500 square feet. The neighborhood was in transition. Selby Avenue was a vibrant street in the 20s and 30sF. Scott Fitzgerald was born thereit had been an upscale neighborhood, but by the 60s most of the buildings had been boarded up. It was still pretty rough in the early 80s.
Traditions was the second business to open back up on Selby. Since then, the whole neighborhood has gotten very upscale. The store later moved to Grand Avenue, but its still in the general area.
A key to Traditions Classics growth was its ability to get on its high-end clienteles bee path.
Were very small and we take that high-end boutique approach to a furniture store, Suzanne said. Our store is always in motion. Since were happy to sell off the floor, from week to week well see 20 to 30 pieces leave. The result is customers stop in to see whats new.
Mike added that customers coming in a month after their
last visit wont see something a little different, its completely different.
The atmospheres the same, but at least half the items werent on the floor the first time you came in, he said. And, if it was on the floor earlier, its not in the same place in the store, not in the same vignette. Our target customers are affluent women, and weve gotten on their regular circuit along with their hairdresser. People come into our store when theyre recreationally shopping.
The advantage to that is though our stores average 3,000 square feet, effectively theyre much larger. The amount of product we can expose to our customers is two or three times the square footage we have.
CONSTANT CHALLENGE
Keeping the floors that fresh is a challenge.
What you have to understand is that what we do involves an incredible amount of work, Mike said. Every Wednesday, for example, in our Naples store, guys from the warehouse are juggling the store layout for two to three hours in the morning. And its not just accessoriesits large items, moving sectionals and cases around. Suzanne and her staff spend the rest of the day re-merchandising the store.
The model took some figuring out on vendors part as well, and Mike said it took some convincing on the Schumanns part.
Most vendors have standard rules on how much floor space has to be dedicated to their line, and some minimums are larger than one of our entire stores, he said. Our vendors, over the years, have gotten to understand our model and bent the rules.
A commitment to maintaining its merchandising philosophyand a conservative attitude toward debthelped the store during the recession. While many stores kept showing the same merchandise, Traditions Classic always had a new look to interest the shoppers that were out there.
We got a lot of gray hair and more wrinkles, Suzanne said of the downturn. We went very, very lean on inventory, but continued to change out the floor constantly.
The Schumanns also had ways to keep employee spirits up during downtime.
We took the opportunity to freshen the stores, Suzanne said. In Naples, they said its quiet, well just paint the store. They took the lead, and everyone ran with it. We kept the energy going just by keeping ourselves moving.
INSPIRING CONFIDENCE, LOYALTY
Mike said Traditions Classic had a couple of things working in its favor.
One, from the day we started our business, we were very well capitalized, he said. From day one graduating from college, Ive been big on staying out of debt. Our business was pretty much funded with cash, and weve never financed our inventory. Weve bought some buildings, so we have a couple of mortgages, but thats it.
When the recession hit, that did two things for us: A, it let us survive; B, it opened doors with a lot of vendors who might not have done business with uswe always paid our bills.
The second key was the loyalty of Traditions Classics staff.
Our employees work on commission, and they took a huge hit in the recession that theyre just now recovering from, Mike said. If they hadnt hung in there, we wouldnt be around now. We were lucky enough that we didnt have to lay off a lot of people since we were already so lean. They made less money, which preserved their jobs, and now things are recovering.
Theres a reason for that loyalty.
Something thats very frustrating to me, you get legislation that says you have to give unpaid leave for family emergencies, and business complain that theyre being forced to do this, Mike said. Weve had this policy from day one to bend over backwards to accommodate our employees lives. So many businesses treat their employees as a commodity. In the end, your employees make you.
SPREADING THE WORD
How does Traditions Classic express its retail vision in marketing and advertising efforts?
Most of our marketing is print and direct mail, Mike said. The biggest challenge is getting people in the door the first timewe found that 15 to 20 percent of the people in the St. Paul stores neighborhood had never been inside. We have people who come in saying theyd driven by for years without stopping and within weeks had bought $10,000 worth of furniture from us.
Word-of-mouth works very well for us, and we do advertising in regional magazines and newspapers. One problem is that people are inundated with magazines. In Naples, it seems like everyones second career after retiring there is putting out a new home furnishings magazine.
A clean, visual approach that projects high-end appeal helps Traditions Classics advertising make a connection with its upscale target audience.
We dont clutter them with a lot of verbiage, Mike said. All the images we use are from vendors. We tell them if you have great photography, youll be in our ads.
Direct mail works better than anything else. Two-thirds to three-fourths go to our existing customer base, the rest to new blood, like people whove just bought a house. HFB
June 19,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on June 2012
According to my dad, I was an expert in the study of relaxation at a very early age. However, in todays business world, it seems I rarely have time to regress to those days. Our world allows us to stay in touch like never before. Dont get me wrong, I love being mobilegive me an Internet connection, a smartphone and Im open for business, but when is it enough?
Hey, we all have seen itthe father-and-child breakfast on Saturday morning with the child sitting at the restaurant table quietly. All he or she wants is attention and a fun time, but dad has his head stuck in a smartphone. Its sad and I hate it; Ive even talked to this child in the restaurant hoping dad might pick up on my lead.
Sometimes I have been successful and other times, I believe I could pick up the child and walk out. Im sure dad would notice, but only after he completes his e-mail.
Weve all been guilty of something similar; giving half our attention to a spouse, friend or maybe even the family pet because we have a tough time defining when work ends and the time to put it all aside and relax. How many times have you planned an evening out, only to get caught up with a quick task from work after hours?
Finding balance between work and quality family life becomes extremely difficult in our high-tech society, but it is necessary and we all must find ways to get away from the daily grind and relax. Relaxation is one key to maintaining a healthy life, yet we seem to miss the boat on this one.
Im lucky to work from a home office. My office attire, for the most part, is shorts and a T-shirt. I can spin around in my office chair and take in the most breathtaking view of the Roanoke Valley. Many times when talking with retailers and working with our manufacturing partners, I do it from the comforts of my deck. I have to say, it doesnt suck. I guess Im a lucky one. My surroundings and the slower pace of living in Roanoke, Va., allow me to be in a more relaxed state of mind.
+Dont think for a minute that means I dont work hard. Anyone that knows me, or has seen me at a furniture Market, knows I run hard and try to touch as many people as possible. Im always on the hunt to find ways to improve Home Furnishings Business for our audience. While I enjoy this very much, its not mentioned in the definition of relax.
So, what do I do to relax and shut it down? I enjoy sitting on my deck and taking in the mountain breeze and my view of the valley. Put a cold one in my hand, and I believe its about as close to heaven as you can get on this side of the soil.
Weve asked the same question of some of our retail friends. In the pages that follow we cover the important role that relaxation plays in making us all better and more productive people. Take a look at what your colleagues do to slow down the daily pace and enjoy the fruits of success. Maybe you will learn a lesson about how to slow your roll.
June 19,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on June 2012
While gathering retailers thoughts for this months issue on how to clean ones mental pipes, I found myself nodding along in agreement a couple of times as they described how they get away.
Their chosen stress-relief vehicles might differ from minewell, one was pretty dang closebut as they described the effect of diving, fly fishing, whatever, it was a lot like what I seek when I go out for a major re-charge: beauty, peace and, most of all, going completely off the communications grid.
I know some of you are in positions where your responsibilities dictate that you remain in contact with work on essentially a constant basis, and I salute your dedication. Im fortunate enough to have a job that pretty much depends on my efforts and the organization of my own time, versus someone elses. So, if I have my ducks in a row, I can leave it all behind in good conscience.
Im also fortunate enough to have a boss (Im looking at you, Sheila), who understands that what I do when I have a string of off days sustains me throughout the year. I like to think a little of my attitude is rubbing off on herSheilas finally leaving her computer at home (sometimes!) when she seeks rejuvenation. In her case, its wind, sand and waves.
In my case its wind, water and wildernessspecifically the mountains. Those of you who know me already know that I have to get out in the hills every once in a while. Navigating difficult terrain, developing the judgment to negotiate potential dangers and the plain old rush I get from spending a few days without a roof over my head all offer a sense of satisfaction that make everyday life a lot simpler for me once I get home.
Listening to Rick Stark describe diving and its entry into another world struck a chord. When Im in the high mountains, Im also in a place where humans are visitors. There, my companions and I are subject to the whims of the natural world and, at times, hazards that we dont face in our everyday lives.
There is nothing like the stripping away of distraction, noise and modern connectivity to open me to the beauty that surrounds us. Call me boring, but I could sit in camp for hours, just watching the changing effect of light on the peaks and basins we call home for a few days. Thats usually the way I spend much of our first day up high, as we adjust to the elevation.
On several trips to the Sierra, Ive brought along a tent that I ended up using as a pillow, sleeping under the stars every night. I always get into my sleeping bag before Im ready to sleep, because I look forward to quiet contemplation of a meteor shower, or musing on how long the light from a particular star took to reach my eyeswhether it even exists anymore. Id heard the Cat Stevens song Moonshadow decades before Id ever really seen onecast by granite peaks with the peaks facing the moonlight shining white. I could literally read by the light.
I remember a day on my own in Scotland when I started in sun, climbed into snow, and back down into sun. I was bopping along back to the trailhead laughing aloud; anyone whod seen me would have thought I was nuts (and indeed, maybe I am a little), but it was one of those moments when pure joy and delight in being free and on my own in remarkable country just flowed over my mental brim.
Ive had experiences up there that come to mind when difficulties arise in my job or everyday life. When Im feeling particularly stressed, I might take two minutes to watch a video of a stream that provided our water (and background music) on one trip to the Sierra; or of a May day in Scotland taken from high on an Arran ridge as a snow squall blew across the tops and down Glen Sannox. Were talking instant blood pressure control here.
That sunset or sound and motion of trees in the wind while Im walking the dogs is a touch sweeter since it recalls sensations from my farther ramblings.
My wonderful wife doesnt go for this sort of stuff on the level I do. She doesnt understand the appeal and sometimes she worries, but she knows my love of mountaineering is an expression of whatever it is that made her go for me. And she cares enough to tell me to take a hike from time to time. (Im pretty sure she means it in a good way ...)
Anyway, thats my road to peace, and if you can find yours, I hope you may travel it as often as you can.