Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
April 29,
2012 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Casual Furniture on April 30, 2012
The International Casual Furnishings Association (ICFA) is accepting nominations for the 2012 Apollo Awards honoring the best retailers in the casual furnishings industry.
The awards will be presented at the annual gala dinner Saturday, Sept. 22, during the 2012 International Casual Furniture and Accessories Market in Chicago. Based on the online voting, five finalists will be selected in two categories, single store and multi-store. All finalists will be honored and the winners announced at the gala dinner.
Nominees must be retail members of the ICFA. All ICFA members have the opportunity to nominate and vote on the finalists.
Information on the award criteria and nomination forms have been distributed to all ICFA members. Nominations must be submitted no later than Friday, May 4. Voting will take place prior to the September Market.
Questions about the nominating or voting process can be e-mail Joe Logan or Rhonda Craven.
April 29,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Community/Charitable Support on April 30, 2012
Boston-area furniture retailer Jordan's Furniture delivered a truckload of baseball and softball equipment to Fenway Park Saturday for the Red Sox Foundation's inner city youth baseball program.
Through its Double Play Youth Baseball Program, Jordans Furniture collected gently used baseball and softball equipment from customers at all store locations to donate to the official Red Sox team charity for distribution to their Rookie and RBI youth baseball league teams.
In this day and age of pay-to-play, there are thousands of kids that just cannot afford to play sports, said Eliot Tatelman of Jordans Furniture. We think that every youth should be able to enjoy Americas favorite pastime, so we created the Play Ball Program. And with the help of the Red Sox Foundation, well be able to reach a lot of inner-city kids in our area.
To encourage donations, Jordans held a contest in which the top organizations that collected the most equipment would be honored at a pre-game ceremony at Fenway Park on Monday, and a visit from Red Sox mascot, Wally, at their school or organization. This years winners were Hingham High School and Natick Little League.
We are grateful to partner with community champion Jordans Furniture on this terrific equipment drive for a second year, said Red Sox Foundation Executive Director and team Vice President for Corporate Affairs Meg Vaillancourt. Through the collection of gently used equipment, Jordans is making summer games possible for many disadvantaged kids. We also salute the students at Hingham High and Natick Little League who have demonstrated that Red Sox Nations commitment to teamwork also means finding a way to help others.
This is the second year that Jordans has run the charitable collection program.
April 26,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Aggregated Content in Business Strategy on April 27, 2012
from http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/print-edition/2012/04/27/becker-furniture-adding-metro-stores.html
When Doug and Julie Huseby founded Becker Furniture World in 1978, the store was just 500 square feet. Over the years, they expanded the business into one of the nations largest furniture showrooms, a 250,000-square-foot megastore in Becker, Minn., that attracts shoppers from across the region.
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April 26,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on April 27, 2012
Rebecca Justice, former model and spouse of retired World Series champion David Justice, has introduced two furniture lines that are gaining attention.
The collections-Villa de Justicia Furniture and San Miguel de Allende-are manufactured by Andrew Morgan Furniture.
Chaise lounges from the Rebecca Justice Collections were recently featured in a national print ad campaign for Zodiac Pool Systems, a leading global manufacturer of pool equipment.
Before her furniture designs were available to the public, Justice created pieces to furnish the Justice home in Poway, Calif. When Rebecca and David Justice lost their home to the 2007 San Diego County wild fires, they had to rebuild. Rebecca Justice found few furniture pieces in mass production that fit the European Chateau meets Spanish Revival style she wanted for her home. Justice saw the opportunity to combine her love of design and fashion to create furniture she couldn't find anywhere else.
"Every piece is a true work-of-art, made to order and handcrafted exclusively in the U.S. by incredibly talented artisans who have trained all over the world," Justice said. "The designs are similar to pieces I saw among the chateaus and chapels while traveling in Europe. The entire collection evokes a classic, old world feel with a touch of modernity."
Justice worked with business partner, Marie Cunning, manufacturer of Andrew Morgan Furniture, to custom design and craft each piece in the Rebecca Justice collections. Each piece can be tailored to highlight the homeowner's individual style to create furnishings that are unique and unlike anything that can be found in mass production. Customers can choose from a variety of rich woods, leather, luxurious fabrics and hand-applied finishes.
Inspired by her rich Mexican-American heritage and Catholic upbringing, Justice often integrates religious symbols, crowns, fleur-de-lis and Swarovski crystals in her furniture, accessories, and signature pillows.
April 26,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Financial Reports on April 27, 2012
Rent-to-own furniture, electronics and appliance retailer Aaron's (NYSE: AAN) reported record first-quarter sales and earnings.
For the three months ended March 31, revenue rose 10 percent to $586.9 million, net income was up 60 percent to $71.2 million, and same-store sales rose 4.8 percent, compared with the first-quarter 2011.
First-quarter 2012 earnings included a $35.5 million reversal of accrued lawsuit expense. During the period, Atlanta-based Aaron's settled a lawsuit with a former Aaron's associate who claimed she was sexually harassed by a former co-worker in 2006. The company recorded a charge of $36.5 million in the second quarter of 2011, which represented an accrual for the judgment and associated legal fees and expenses of $41.5 million, less insurance coverage of $5 million. The company's final settlement related to this matter was $6 million, and accordingly, the Company recognized $35.5 million of income in the first quarter of 2012 operating results.
Excluding the lawsuit-related accrual reversal, net earnings for the first quarter would have been $49.2 million, up 11 percent over the same period in 2011.
"We are quite pleased with the results for the quarter and feel we have an excellent start for the year," said Ronald W. Allen, president and CEO of Aaron's. "Our results exceeded expectations, revenue and customer growth is strong, and the HomeSmart stores are ramping up as anticipated. We are optimistic that customer demand for the basic household furnishings we offer, especially with our flexible payment terms, will continue to be quite good in upcoming months."
The company had 1,043,000 customers at the end of the most recent quarter, a 14 percent increase over the number at the end of March 2011. The customer count on a same store basis for Company-operated stores was up 8.6 percent in the first quarter of 2012 compared to the same quarter last year.
During the first quarter of 2012, the Company opened nine Company-operated Aaron's Sales & Lease Ownership stores, six franchised stores, and two HomeSmart stores. The Company also acquired three franchised stores and the accounts of nine third party stores. In addition, one store was acquired from a third party operator and converted to a HomeSmart store. Three Company-operated stores were closed during the quarter.
The company awarded area development agreements during the first quarter to open 11 additional franchised stores. At the end of March 2012, area development agreements were outstanding for the opening of 223 franchised stores over the next several years.
At March 31, Aaron's had 1,153 company-operated Aaron's Sales & Lease Ownership stores, 710 Aaron's Sales & Lease Ownership franchised stores, 74 HomeSmart stores, 16 company-operated RIMCO stores, and six franchised RIMCO stores. The company also had one Aaron's Office Furniture store. The total number of stores open at the end of March 2012 was 1,960.
Aaron's updated its guidance for 2012 and expects to achieve the following at this time:
* Second quarter revenues (excluding revenues of franchisees) of approximately $525 million.
* Second quarter diluted earnings per share in the range of $.44 to $.48 per share.
* Fiscal year 2012 revenues (excluding revenues of franchisees) of approximately $2.2 billion, an increase over the previous guidance of approximately $2.15 billion.
* GAAP fiscal year 2012 diluted earnings per share in the range of $2.24 to $2.36.
* Non-GAAP fiscal year 2012 diluted earnings per share in the range of $1.96 to $2.08 which excludes the first quarter reversal of the accrued lawsuit expense, an increase over the previous guidance of $1.88 to $2.04.
Click here for the complete Aaron's first-quarter performance release.