Daily News Archive
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July 28,
2011 by in UnCategorized 
By Aggregated Content in on July 29, 2011
from http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z5011689732&z=1250249032
U.S. home goods retailer Williams-Sonoma Inc ( LONDON, July 29 The newspaper said the company, which manages Williams-Sonoma stores and the Pottery Barn furnishings chain, was keen to make its debut in London and is thought to want shops sized between 5,000-8,000 square feet. (Reporting by Brenda Goh, editing by Bernard Orr)
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July 28,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Aggregated Content in on July 29, 2011
from http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z5013360615&z=1250249030
New York, July 29th (TradersHuddle.com) - Shares of Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (NYSE:PIR) traded at $10.94 close to its 200 day moving average currently set at $10.46. Pier 1's price action is just above this key support level, and it will certainly raise traders attention, as a possible trading opportunity. Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (NYSE:PIR) retails decorative home furnishings, gifts, and related items. Pier 1 stores are located in throughout the United States. Additonally the company has locations internationally in Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Mexico. Latest price action range, defined by a peaks and troughs algorithm
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July 28,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Social Media on July 29, 2011
Home Furnishings Independents Association and Internet consultant Web4Retail have partnered to bring Facebook marketing to the association's retailer members.
The new program, Facebook Your Business, is designed to help home decor retailers connect with customers through Facebook, the world's largest social networking service. Facebook is the online leader in connecting people and businesses with an estimated 750 million users worldwide.
"Staying current with what the web can offer is important in retail today," said HFIA President Mary Frye. "Facebook offers so much opportunity for reaching customers, especially those who might not otherwise read an ad or come into a store--the younger demographic."
Web4Retail will design, create and manage a branded page for each retailer, building a targeted Web Facebook presence and tailoring it to the personality of the store. Pages will utilize focused retail content, store information, promotions, photos and links to product categories.
Basic and standard packages are offered and include management of the site on a daily basis as well as information regarding shopper site usage provided through Google Analytics.
"We do all the work," said Denise Keniston, CEO of Web4Retail. "The first phase is to design the page. The second phase is the ongoing community management. We touch every page, every day. We come up with ideas to market directly to the fan. We build the community. We connect directly with the fans."
Web4Retail provides Web site design, web marketing, SEO, social media and e-commerce services for home furnishings industry retailers.
For more information about HFIA and "Facebook Your Business," visit the HFIA Web site; or contact Mary Frye at 800.942.4663 or by e-mail.
July 28,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on July 29, 2011
Leggett & Platt will promote expansion of its SilverShell antimicrobial mattress protector with showroom prizes at next week's Las Vegas Furniture Market.
Each retail buyer visiting the company's World Market Center showroom, WMC-B1326, has a chance to win an iPad, a $100 casino chip or other prizes.
As part of a showcase illustrating the advanced application of the MicroSilver BG antimicrobial technology in the Leggett & Platt SilverShell Mattress Encasement, the company will host the Leggett & Platt Plinko Game as visitors enter the Consumer Products Group showroom. Prizes available will include $100 casino chips (usable at any Caesar's Entertainment casino in Las Vegas), $10 Starbucks gift cards, Leggett & Platt home textiles products and a night at the movies for two. In addition, each participant will be entered into a drawing for an iPad 2.
The MicroSilver BG antimicrobial technology uses highly pure, natural elemental silver to inhibit germs and does not require any chemicals to function. The technology is used in many patented healthcare applications, such as root canal fillings, catheters, bone cement, wound care, and breast prosthesis for recovering breast cancer patients, as well as skin care, personal care, and other consumer applications.
July 28,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in sourcing/importing on July 29, 2011
The Environmental Investigations Agency released a report Thursday claiming the Vietnamese military plays a pivotal role played in smuggling timber from endangered forests in Laos.
EIA is a London-based non-governmental organization and charitable trust that investigates and campaigns against a wide range of environmental crimes, including illegal wildlife trade, illegal logging, hazardous waste, and trade in climate and ozone-altering chemicals.
The new report Crossroads: The Illicit Timber Trade Between Laos and Vietnam says a Lao export ban on raw timber is routinely flouted on a massive scale to feed timber processing industries in Vietnam, China and Thailand. During undercover operations in 2010 and 2011, EIA agents posing as timber buyers say they tracked a trail of corruption and inadequate enforcement back from furniture factories and ports in Vietnam to its border with Laos and beyond.
And EIA's says that one of the biggest loggers in Laos is a company owned by the Vietnamese military, the Vietnamese Company of Economic Cooperation (COECCO). EIA investigators traveled to COECCO's headquarters in Vinh City, Vietnam, in May 2011 and said they learned COECCO has been in the timber trade and logging business in Laos for more than 20 years, that it sources most of its logs from Lao dam clearance sites and that it is one of a handful of companies permitted to carry out logging in these areas.
"EIA first exposed the illicit log trade between Laos and Vietnam in 2008, and our latest investigations reveal that sadly nothing has changed," said EIA Head of Forest Campaign Faith Doherty. "The governments of Vietnam and Laos urgently need to work together to stem the flow of logs and curb the over-exploitation of Laos precious forests before its too late, and the Vietnamese military must be excluded from logging operations in Laos. With a new Timber Regulation coming into force within European markets in 2013, both Vietnam and Laos have a lot at stake and urgently need to work with the European Union."
EIA called on the Lao government to enforce its log export ban; publish details of all logging quotas and the selection process; and clarify rules for converting forest land for plantations.
EIA called on the government of Vietnam to respect the policies of the Lao government by blocking log imports from the country; hold bilateral talks with the Government of Laos over illicit wood trade between the two countries; work with Vietnamese wood industry associations to exclude Lao logs from its supply chain; and exclude military businesses from carrying out logging operations in Laos
The organization also suggested companies and consumers obtain proof that wood products sourced from Vietnam are not derived from logs imported from Laos.
Copies of the full Crossroads report, stills and footage are available on request from EIA Press Officer Paul Newman by e-mail or at 020.7354.7960.