Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
January 5,
2011 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on January 6, 2011
Fort Worth, Texas-based Pier 1 Imports (NYSE: PIR) reported December same-store sales increase of 10.3 percent for the five-week period ended Jan. 1.
That compares to an increase of 8.6 percent jump in the same month in the previous year.
The home furnishings retailer attributed the increase to high traffic, a better conversion rate and stronger average ticket merchandise margins in the month with less promotional and clearance pricing compared to the previous year.
"We are pleased with the strength in our December holiday sales results -- traffic, conversion and average ticket were all up over last year and continue to be the forces driving our sales increases," said Alex W. Smith, president and CEO. "Merchandise margins remained strong in December due to less promotional and clearance pricing than last year. We now expect merchandise margins to be at least 57.5 percent of sales for the fourth quarter, up from our previous expectation of 57.0 percent of sales. Looking forward to the spring and summer selling seasons, we are very confident in our new assortments which start to arrive in stores this week as the seasonal clearance event winds down."
The retailer will announce fourth quarter sales for the quarter ending Feb. 26 on March 3. Pier 1 will release fourth quarter and fiscal 2011 results April 7.
January 5,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Executive Changes on January 6, 2011
Art Van Furniture has named Armando Murillo director of Art Van Pure Sleep Development, the company announced Wednesday.
In this newly created position, Murillo will be involved in expanding the Warren, Mich.-based furniture retailer's stand-alone Art Van Pure Sleep stores. He reports to Steve Glucksman, vice president of strategic business development. Prior to joining Art Van, Murillo held senior positions with Sealy, Serta, and Palliser Furniture. Most recently, Murillo was vice president of merchandising for Dallas-based bedding retailer Mattress Giant Inc.
"Armando knows the furniture and bedding industry inside and out," Glucksman said. "We look forward to his expertise as we take the Art Van Pure Sleep brand and business to the next level adding new stores in 2011."
The Art Van Pure Sleep brand launched in 2009 and includes two free-standing mattress stores and 30 departments inside Art Van showrooms. A third Art Van Pure Sleep store is scheduled to open this spring in Troy, Mich.
"Art Van Furniture's track record of excellence and innovation means we're able to attract the best in the business," said Kim Yost, Art Van CEO. "Armando is a superstar and will add true bench strength to our team."
January 5,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Store Openings on January 6, 2011
Morris Furniture is set to unveil its new Cincinnati location Tuesday with with new interior elements designed by Martin Roberts Design, Stamford, Conn.
The 72,000-square-foot Morris complex features five separate, inter-connected stores that provide customers with an environment that's easier to shop and which reinforces the retailer's expertise in mattresses, home theater furnishings and other categories of furniture products.
Roberts' design firm is responsible for the store's interior design, a number of innovative in-store merchandising concepts, interior signage and graphic elements. The complex includes of three Morris branded shops--The Morris Home Furnishings showroom, The Home Theater store at Morris and The Morris Outlet--as well as The Better Sleep Shop and one of the Fairborn, Ohio-based company's Ashley Furniture Homestores. The Cincinnati furnishings retail complex, a $3 million investment, is located at 11765 Commons Drive near Tri-County Mall. The company has operated stores in the Dayton area for 63 years and now expands its presence to include the Cincinnati market.
According to Roberts, the five-stores-in-one concept reflects a growing preference among shoppers.
"I commend Morris Furniture's management for its foresight in providing shoppers with focused solutions to their furniture shopping needs," Roberts said. "Their unmatched product expertise and inviting, smaller-scaled spaces make it easier for customers to find what they want quickly. Across retailing, giants like Wal-Mart are rolling out smaller stores and malls are opening up multiple, store-specific entrances in response to changing shopping patterns. Morris has always been a leader in furniture retailing, and this new store concept adds another innovative milestone to its long history of accomplishments."
Morris Furniture Co. Inc. President and CEO Larry Klaben said the company's work with Roberts on the store concept began more than three years ago.
"From the beginning of the process, Martin Roberts embraced what is meant by our guiding phrase, 'More at Morris,'" he said. "With our new showrooms in Cincinnati, our customers are getting more selection, more style, more service and more savings. Were very pleased with how Martin helped us deliver More at Morris."
Also making shopping easier, each showroom is organized into lifestyle environments, so a shopper looking for a category like casual furniture will find all of the store's casual styles for each room in their home displayed together.
Unique elements of the new showrooms include:
* A large fireplace and hearth near the primary Morris Home Furnishings entrances establishes a warm inviting atmosphere and serves as an attractive backdrop for the leather gallery that wraps around it.
* An enormous screen showing sports programming creates drama and establishes a comfortable mood for the recliner department.
* In the The Home Theater store at Morris, multiple studio spaces display the perfect way to blend the latest electronics with beautiful furnishings sparking shoppers own ideas and introducing solutions that could work in their own homes.
* A mini Stearns & Foster museum that Roberts helped develop is located next to The Better Sleep Shop, serving as a tribute to the mattress company that got its start in Cincinnati in 1846.
January 5,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Display on January 6, 2011
High-end furniture manufacturer and retailer Ethan Allen (NYSE: ETH) will serve as primary furnisher of the 15th annual HGTV Dream Home in Vermont.
Located in Spruce Peak at Vermont's Stowe Mountain Resort, the HGTV Dream Home 2011 blends modern architecture and rustic mountain appeal to create a luxurious, livable four-season retreat. Linda Woodrum, interior designer for the HGTV Dream Home 2011, selected furniture, fabrics, and decorative accessories earlier this year during a visit to the Ethan Allen flagship Design Center in Manhattan.
"This is the first-ever HGTV Dream Home in Vermont, and it was particularly special for us that among the furnishings Linda selected were pieces hand-crafted at the Ethan Allen workshop in Orleans, Vermont," said Ethan Allen's director of interior design, Marta Eriquez. "This is the fifth consecutive Dream Home that Ethan Allen has furnished and we're always excited to see the outcome.
Approximately seventy percent of Ethan Allen's products are manufactured in the United States, and the Ethan Allen workshop in Orleans is just one of the company's six U.S. facilities.
Participating Ethan Allen Design Centers will host free Style Workshops in February to help clients create their own dream homes.
January 5,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Markets on January 6, 2011
Dallas Area Rapid Transit rail now stops at the Dallas Market Center campus and will be available for use during the Dallas Total Home & Gift Market, Jan. 19-25.
"Quick and convenient rail access to Dallas Market Center is a big customer service win," said Bill Winsor, president and CEO, Dallas Market Center. "Whether market attendees are arriving at the market center from the airport or seeking entertainment destinations around town, DART provides tremendous advantages for them."
Market attendees now have access to Dallas Love Field Airport and downtown Dallas for dining, shopping and entertainment with a short ride from the Market Center Station on DART's Green Line, located directly behind the International Trade Plaza at Dallas Market Center. Restaurants, museums, bars and nightclubs are within a quick ride.
The DART rail station is located across Harry Hines Boulevard (the street that runs behind the Dallas Market Center campus) and can be accessed from the campus by exiting the back of the International Trade Plaza and following signs to the crossover bridge. The trains run approximately every 20 minutes and the schedule varies from weekday to weekend. An exact schedule and complete listing of stops is available at DART's website. Ticket vending machines at every DART station accept cash, credit and debit cards.