Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
October 20,
2011 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on October 21, 2011
Ashley Furniture has selected TD Retail Card Services to develop and administer a private label credit card program for its Furnish123 retail concept.
Under the agreement, the Mahwah, N.J.-based business unit of TD Bank will direct all facets of the program for the retail concept. TDRCS will offer consumers a variety of custom financing options, as well as other special incentives and offers.
Featuring single-category pricing, Arcadia, Wis.-based Ashley's Furnish123 concept is focused on simplicity, independence and value.
In addition, customers, using the "Create Your Own Space" web-app, can design their own room settings, mixing and matching pieces to express their personal style. Designs can be shared with friends through email, Facebook and other social networks, and dealers can keep in touch with customers and help them make final decisions on their room designs.
October 20,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in High Point on October 21, 2011
Solid wood, full line case goods producer West Bros. Furniture has redesigned its High Point Furniture Market showroom.
Tom Halvorsen, vice president of sales and marketing for West Bros Furniture, said a change in layout format had become necessary at the showroom, IHFC-D1144, due to product design direction and a growing business model.
"Our new product introductions the past few markets have been decidedly either today's traditional or more contemporary in style," he said. "Historically we have shown our products styles combined within our showroom. But successful introductions a year ago of traditional flavored Newbury Street, made of solid maple, and last market's Arris, decidedly contemporary in solid cherry, have allowed us to remodel our showroom and open things up and allow better focus on all the elements of our products."
Halvorsen added that the change will better allow the retailers at market to focus on similar styles more easily and showcase the two distinctively different categories more effectively.
Ontario, Canada-based West Bros. will offer two new bedroom collections for this coming market. The contemporary collection, Phase, designed by Blake Tovin, will be featured in two finishes of walnut. PHASE is another collection created by the renowned furniture designer, Blake Tovin. The second collection, Nuance, is in a traditional flavor and will be shown in solid cherry.
October 20,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on October 21, 2011
Fairborn, Ohio-based
Morris Furniture Co. plans to open a 100,000-square-foot Morris Home Center in Florence, Ky., in the fall of 2012.
The home center will feature five distinct stores. Combined, the showrooms will be Northern Kentucky's largest home furnishings complex devoted to furniture, mattresses, HDTVs and gifts for the home. The store opening will add 40 to 50 new jobs to the company's current employment, and the retailer is investing about $5 million in the store.
"We are excited to bring our Morris Home Furnishings, Ashley Furniture HomeStore, Better Sleep Shop, Morris Big HDTV Store, and Morris Clearance Outlet stores to Northern Kentucky," said Larry Klaben, president and CEO of Morris Furniture. "We opened our first Morris Home Center in Cincinnati less than a year ago, and the response has been fantastic. This location will allow us bring the same one-stop shopping concept to Northern Kentucky."
Morriss Furniture was founded in Dayton, Ohio, in 1947, and currently operates 17 home furnishigns showrooms. Last year, the company opened a five-store Home Center in Springdale.
Our Morris Home Furnishings showroom will feature home furnishings for todays lifestyles," said George Hartley, COO. "Our showroom will be designed to give consumers the easiest way to shop for their furniture needs. This showroom will be organized into lifestyle environments to match the shoppers needs. Instead of manufacturer galleries that divide a showroom and duplicate styles for consumers, this concept displays furniture collections together by style. Shoppers looking for casual furniture will find all our casual furniture offerings for each room in their home displayed together."
Klaben said the stores offer consumers the ease of one-stop shopping.
October 20,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Executive Changes on October 21, 2011
Advertising veteran Bill Napier has joined
FurnitureDealer.net to lead the company's marketing and premium Web site solutions sales efforts.
"We're very pleased to have Bill work with our company," said Andy Bernstein, founder and president of FurnitureDealer.net. "Bill worked with us as a consultant in 2007 to help us focus our message and sales process which helped to grow our business immensely."
Napier is no stranger to the furniture industry. Most recently, he was with Home Line Furniture, and he's also held positions with
Ashley.
FurnitureDealer.net also worked with Napier while he was at Home Line. Together they focused on Web marketing initiatives.
"I've been in this business for 12 years and I have never worked with a group of people that is more strategic, innovative and focused on their customer's success," Napier said. "The Internet has changed everything for furniture retailers, and FurnitureDealer.net's business consultant approach to their partnerships has consistently helped their retailers solve their sales, marketing and merchandising business issues."
October 19,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Financial Reports on October 20, 2011
Stanley Furniture Co. (NASDAQ-NGS: STLY) reported third-quarter 2011 net sales of $26.1 million, a 34.2 percent decrease from the same period last year.
Stanley lost $1.7 million in the three months ended Oct. 1, an improvement from a $4.9 million loss in third-quarter 2010.
Stanley's third-quarter net loss also was an improvement from a $2 million loss in second-quarter 2011.
"We are clearly operating in a difficult retail environment," said Glenn Prillaman, president and CEO, "but our efforts to continue improving operations independent of sales are encouraging. We enter the fourth quarter with our strongest product offering and in the best service position since our restructuring plan began at the end of 2010. This should result in continued backlog reduction during the remainder of 2011, bolstering confidence with our customers. Historically, when we have combined the best product with superior quality and service, we have gained market share and generated positive cash flow. Predicting future growth, however, in this economy is very difficult."
Gross margin increased to $3.8 million (14.7 percent of net sales) in the third quarter from $3.4 million (12.3 percent of net sales) in the second quarter excluding restructuring credit.
"The overseas sourcing efforts associated with our Stanley brand are paying dividends, and now we accelerate our investments in the domestic operations which support our Young America brand's differentiation in the marketplace," Prillamn said. "This will take time, but we will emerge a stronger company with improved product offerings addressing changing distribution channels."