October 26,
2011 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Case Goods on October 27, 2011
Ethan Allen (NYSE: ETH) has acquired a former case goods furniture plant in Honduras.
The 164,000-square-foot facility is situated on 18 acres with access to essential raw materials, major highways, a modern seaport and state-of-the-art communications networks.
"We are pleased that during the last three years we have repositioned many elements of our vertically integrated enterprise," said Chairman and CEO Farooq Kathwari in an announcement of the deal. "Over the next 12 months we expect this facility to enable us to manage further growth through its support of our existing North American manufacturing operations in Vermont, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Mexico.
"Our plans are to maintain our existing manufacturing operations in North America supplemented by offshore sourcing plus this new facility in Honduras."
October 25,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Aggregated Content in economic news on October 26, 2011
from http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z5382348721&z=1250249027
Americans say they feel worse about the economy than they have since the depths of the Great Recession. And it's a bad time for a bad mood because households are starting to make their holiday budgets.
It might not be all doom and gloom, though. Sometimes what people say about the economy and how they behave are two different things. Consumer confidence fell in October to the lowest since March 2009, reflecting the big hit that the stock market took this summer and frustration with an economic recovery that doesn't really feel like one. The Conference
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October 25,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Aggregated Content in economic news on October 26, 2011
from http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z5383733491&z=1250249030
Furniture Brands CEO Ralph Scozzafava says the U.S. furniture industry hasnt emerged from the recession because a gridlock in housing has sapped spending on couches and home items.
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October 25,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on October 26, 2011
Kimball Hospitality has partnered with
Linwood Furniture to produce North American-made Kimball Hospitality case goods.
The new business relationship provides for exclusive manufacturing of hospitality product by Linwood, Lexington, N.C., for Kimball only. This partnership is a natural extension of Kimball's global supply chain capability and a great addition of North American produced product.
Kimball Hospitality, a brand unit of Kimball International, is a global contract manufacturer specializing in proprietary and custom designed furnishings for the hotel, casino, and resort industries. Linwood Furniture is a leading domestic OEM producer of private label, high quality wood furniture. This strategic business arrangement allows for total collaboration with Linwood, who will sub-contract manufacture Kimball Hospitality furniture.
"We believe our customers will be very eager to take advantage of the additional domestic manufacturing capacity this new partnership brings to our global portfolio," said Stan Sapp, president of Kimball Hospitality and vice president of Kimball International. "This relationship when combined with our nearby Martinsville, Va., upholstery operation provides a particularly attractive solution to customers with properties in the Eastern U.S."
"This is a major milestone in our quest to partner with the top hospitality company in the industry," said Linwood CEO Mike Mebane. "To become a supply partner with Kimball recognizes our reputation and our ability to provide the highest quality products able to bear the Kimball name."
October 25,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on October 26, 2011
Solid wood furniture manufacturer
Durham Furniture launched its new, improved website at this week's
High Point Furniture Market."We wanted a fresher, younger look for our site that would operate very fast for consumers," Vice President of Business Development Dave Pinamonti. "Because we have different finish programs available, we also wanted the retail sales associates to be able to work with their customers in the store when deciding which products and which finish they wanted. They can see very clearly an excellent representation of each finish. One of the keys with our website was to not make it too complex but address the basic needs on what the consumer is looking for."
Dave Geikie, COO of Durham, Durham, Ontario, headed the technical team to co-ordinate with marketing on how to develop the new site.
"To determine the optimum screen flows we utilized several different focus groups," Geikie said. "We received feedback from end consumers, retailers and our sales team to create the right flow. We now have a website that matches consumer search patterns and is built on our website analytics data. The result is a faster, cleaner more consumer friendly site.
Durham Furniture, founded in 1899, is one of the largest marketers of solid cherry and solid maple bedroom groups in North America. Durham has also recently extended the line into solid wood occasional tables and entertainment consoles. Durham has permanent showrooms in Toronto and High Point and makes all products in North America.