Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
October 16,
2011 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in High Point on October 17, 2011
High-end furniture vendor Marge Carson has acquired the 50,000-square-foot Hamilton Place showroom building in High Point.
Located at 117-121 North Hamilton St., the building will continue to serve as the company's High Point showroom.
"We are very committed to the High Point Market and, specifically, to the Hamilton Wrenn Design District," said CEO Jim LeBarge. "The adjustments currently occurring in the real estate market made this an excellent time for this purchase. We've been looking for a permanent location for our showroom and, when the opportunity to acquire our present location at an advantageous price came about, it fit perfectly into our strategic plan. We look forward to many more years in this location."
Marge Carson, Rosemead, Calif., occupies 29,000 square feet of the building, leaving several additional showroom spaces for rent at competitive rates. Prior to the April 2012 High Point Furniture Market, the company plans to update the exterior and install a new roof and air conditioning system.
October 16,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Executive Changes on October 17, 2011
Randy Gleckman has joined Kathy Ireland Home by Omnia Furniture as national sales manager for its Omnia Leather and American Elegance lines.
"Randy has over 20 years of experience with leather and upholstery and we are very happy to have someone with his background and knowledge be a part of our company," said Peter Zolferino, president, Kathy Ireland Home by Omnia Furniture.
Randy will be present at the upcoming High Point Furniture Market in Omnia's showrooms, spaces D1102 and D1110 of the International Home Furnishings Center, where the company is set to introduce new contemporary designs to its American Modern Collection.
Also introduced will be "Stratus," part of Omnia's Sleeper Solutions Program. It is the latest addition to the Premiere Sleeper System, which maximizes seating and sleeping comfort by incorporating an air mattress engineered to roll up into the upholstered back.
"Dominion" is another addition to Omnias Classic Leather Furniture line. Similar to the Dalton style, the Dominion has individually placed nail heads, on front arm panels, and the front rail.
American Elegance introductions for the High Point Market include a new program called "Elegant Solutions," a 12-style program with 12 collage collection fabric handles that can be used to semi-customize styles with designer fabrics.
October 16,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Dining Room on October 17, 2011
Norwalk Furniture has launched an extensive, near-custom dining chair program called Kaleidoscope Options.
The program offers four chair styles, three chair heights and functions, three seat options, 20 wood and painted finishes, trim details and 850 in-stock fabrics and leathers.
"Kaleidoscope Options offers the ultimate flexibility for coordinating design schemes at affordable pricing," said Reyna Moore, director of marketing for Norwalk Furniture, Norwalk, Ohio. "With such a broad range of options, the program literally presents unlimited combinations in decorative options to create that special personal look.
"The colorful painted finishes lend tremendous design flexibility to the whole program and enables retailers to create their own identity. We looked at hundreds of colors, considering what is on trend with our current decorative palette as well as the basic tones, which best coordinate with Norwalks extensive fabric collection. So, for example, the grey weathered tone of Smoke was created to complement beautiful linens and other natural textiles in the collection. The painted finishes include warm pigments, sleek neutrals and vibrant hues to add an unexpected twist on classic chair frames and a burst of color and freshness."
This is how Kaleidoscope Options works. Choose from the following choices:
* Four chair styles: Bristol, Bella, Bridget or Brooke.
* Three chair heights and functions: dining chair, bar stool or counter stool
* Seat options: wood, fabric or leather.
* A total of 20 traditional wood and painted finishes.
* 850 in-stock fabrics and leathers.
The privately-held company manufactures upholstered seating in its 440,000-square-foot facility, delivered consistently in 35 days.
October 16,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Retail Technology on October 17, 2011
The home furnishings technology specialist Furniture Wizard will showcase its iFurniture iPad point-of-sale app at High Point Furniture Market.
The app can be used with an optional Bluetooth wireless scanner. According to Furniture Wizard, most mobile solutions on the market are connecting to the Web, accessing cloud based solutions in order to attain information, resulting in slow or limited access based on Internet connectivity.
"Our goal has always been and still is to create intelligent software solutions that any store is able to afford," said Martin Fischbein, founder and president of Furniture Wizard. "We wanted to create a solution that can contain a retailer's entire inventory along with any vendor's catalogs that they choose in a way that is available and reliable without the Internet."
"Technology needs to be embraced by our industry to make the selling experience more personal, not less," added Evan Faller, business development officer at Furniture Wizard. "With UPC and QR codes now flooding retail showrooms, we must give our sales associates the upper hand by empowering them with tools to access information. With this application the associates can stay with the customer instead of running to catalog stations for photography or searching for a computer terminal to check stock availability. If a picture is worth a thousand words what would twenty five suppliers with thousands of items each and inter-related items be worth in a 1.3 lb. tablet?"
The application is designed to help retailers immediately increase sales in two ways. First, by having access to more information during the sale, associates will be able to offer their customers more suggestions, thereby upsizing average sale. Second, by increasing efficiency in the selling process, individual sales associates will be able to serve more customers at a greater specified level of service in less time.
The application has been specifically designed to work in conjunction with Furniture Wizard software. The developers will soon release an API for this application, which will allow retailers that have not yet switched to Furniture Wizard to integrate with their existing point-of-sale application. Also, suppliers using a variety of manufacturing software solutions will be able to empower their sales force in the field without having to create their own mobile solution from the ground up, saving time, money and frustration.
For a demo at Market, visit the Retail Resource Center in the Plaza Suites, booth 42.
October 16,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Community/Charitable Support on October 17, 2011
The Furniture Bank-Houston, has teamed with furniture retailer Cantoni, for its 19th Anniversary Celebration and The Great Furniture Find, Nov. 10, 6:30-9:30 P.M.
The event takes place at Cantoni's West Houston store. Attendees will pay for clever clues to scavenge for "Great Furniture Finds" throughout the store to raise awareness of the need for gently-used furniture for Houston's underpriviledged.
For the past 19 years, The Furniture Bank-Houston has worked to provide those in need with necessary furniture.
The Furniture Bank-Houston will also honor three great philanthropists: Ralph Marek, owner/founder of Marek Family Of Companies; DIVAS (Designing Interior Volunteers At Your Service) Founder Janet Ely; and Radio Personality, Rod Ryan of 94.5 The Buzz, for their tireless efforts in behalf of the Furniture Bank.
The Furniture Bank, a 501(c)3 organization, provides gently-used furniture which has been donated by the Houston community for the benefit of tens of thousands of families, serving more than 75 area social service agencies. For more information, or to reserve a spot for The Great Furniture Find, contact: Harla Kaplan at 713.263.1498 or at hkaplan219@aol.com.