Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
December 16,
2010 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on December 17, 2010
A fire Wednesday destroyed rent-to-own furniture store Advantage Home Furnishings in St. Albans, Vt., the Burlington Free Press reported Thursday.
No serious injuries were reported.
St. Albans Fire Chief Harold Cross told the paper the fire apparently started near a gas heater, and that high winds hampered fire-fighting efforts.
It was the town's second major fire in 14 hours.
December 16,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on December 17, 2010
A West Virginia couple is suing furniture retailer Big Sandy Superstore, the West Virginia Times Record reported Thursday.
Sharon Anderson says she slipped on ice or snow when she went to the Charleston location's service area to pick up a mirror she'd purchased. The suit alleges improper maintenance of the area was to blame for a hamstring tear, and neck and shoulder injuries.
Anderson and her husband, Norman Anderson seek compensation damages with pre- and post-judgment interest.
December 15,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Executive Changes on December 16, 2010
Floyd Sullivan has been named marketing manager for
Trade Associates Group's line of gifts, decorative accessories and the tfg contemporary furniture.
Sullivan is responsible for the company's advertising, public relations, e-marketing, trade show planning and other wholesale support for the tag and tfg lines.
"We feel very fortunate to have Floyd on the tag team," said Norman Glassberg, company founder and president. "He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge about our industry to the table."
Most recently, Sullivan worked as an independent consultant to a number of companies in the tabletop, beverage distribution and graphic arts industries. In addition, he has been a volunteer consultant for a number of non-profit arts organizations, including the
Art Institute of Chicago.
Previously, he was director of communications for
Pfaltzgraff and director of marketing at
Noritake.
December 15,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Green on December 16, 2010
The American Home Furnishings Alliance has honored Rod Miller of La-Z-Boy (NYSE: LZB), and Flexsteel (NASDAQ-GM: FLXS) for environmental achievement.
At the Dec. 1-2 AHFA Sustainability Summit in Asheville, N.C., Miller, director of environmental affairs for La-Z-Boy Inc., received the Environmental Leadership Award, which each year goes to an individual who demonstrates leadership within the environmental community, takes an active role in task groups and participates in committee projects.
Miller has more than 25 years of professional engineering experience. His role at La-Z-Boy Inc. is to ensure responsible environmental stewardship by integrating environmentally sound and sustainable business practices into the company's daily business decisions. He has piloted 11 of the company's facilities through AHFA's EFEC (Enhancing Furniture's Environmental Culture) environmental management program.
"Rod's expertise, knowledge and insights have been critical in helping AHFA develop various industry advocacy efforts, ranging from our involvement on boiler regulations to formaldehyde," said AHFA Vice President Bill Perdue. "His progressive and visionary leadership has propelled La-Z-Boy to the forefront of the sustainability movement as an example of careful and concerned environmental stewardship."
Miller serves on the Board of Examiners that audits EFEC and Sustainable by Design companies. He also serves on AHFA's Advisory Committee on the Environment and has been a part of work groups that have hammered out industry positions on a variety of regulatory issues. He also has assisted in development of the product registration guidelines for AHFA's new Eco3Home product registration program.
Flexsteel received the Environmental Excellence Award for corporate environmental performance. This award recognizes an AHFA member company that embraces the AHFA message of excellence and, as a company, is on the leading edge of environmental compliance and performance.
Flexsteel was the first AHFA member company to implement the EFEC program at a contract division, its Starkville, Miss., commercial seating factory. EFEC also was implemented at the company's plant and corporate office in Dubuque, Iowa, as well as at plants in Riverside, Calif., Dublin, Ga., and Harrison, Ark. In addition, Flexsteel implemented EFEC at the DMI corporate office in Louisville, Ky., as well as at a DMI plant and warehouse in Huntingburg, Ind. It was the largest number of separate facilities to complete the EFEC program simultaneously.
Benefits of EFEC included a 51 percent reduction in landfill waste, equating to 105 pounds saved per employee per month. This reduction was achieved January to June 2009 as compared to the same six-month period in 2008. In addition, Flexsteel reduced its electrical usage by 3.8 percent, or 35 kilowatt hours per employee per month. Water consumption was reduced by 17.2 percent, or 86 gallons per employee per month. Reductions in all of these measures have continued in subsequent years.
AHFA also recognized two supplier companies for their contributions to furthering the Alliance's environmental initiatives in 2010: The Shelton Group of Knoxville, Tenn.; and Verisae of Minneapolis, Minn.
The Shelton Group has been working with AHFA for more than a year to develop the marketing messages behind the Alliance's new Eco3Home program. The company designed the Eco3Home logo, marketing materials and website. The Shelton Group was founded 18 years ago by Suzanne Shelton as an advertising agency devoted entirely to motivating mainstream consumers to make sustainable choices. Today the agency develops brand positioning, advertising, direct marketing and interactive media for a wide range of clients that have included Andersen Windows, Johnson & Johnson, Energy Star and the American Institute of Architects.
Verisae assists companies in achieving their corporate sustainability objectives by providing asset, energy and carbon management software integrated into a single technology platform. This platform is optimized to meet the unique needs of global enterprises with assets spanning a large geographic footprint. The company has partnered with AHFA to offer educational webinars and a custom "carbon calculator" to help member companies understand and begin to impact their carbon footprint.
December 15,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on December 16, 2010
Home furnishings retail giant Ikea will install solar energy panels on furniture stores in Paramus, N.J., and Stoughton, Mass.
Pending government permits, rooftop installation will begin in the new year, with completion expected in Spring 2011. The plans bring the number of U.S. Ikea locations that will have a solar energy system to a total of 13. These two systems will represent the largest store-top solar installations for Ikea in the United States.
The Paramus, NJ and Stoughton, MA stores will be outfitted with solar energy systems, and with corresponding clean energy equivalents based on calculations from the Environmental Protection Agency.
For the Paramus and Stoughton projects, Ikea contracted with REC Solar, one of the largest U.S. solar electric installers with more then 5,000 systems built nationwide in the retail sector in the past two years.
"We are excited about this investment by Ikea in using renewable energy on the East Coast to complement our recently announced plans in California," said Mike Ward, Ikea U.S. president. "This approach is consistent with our commitment to sustainable building practices and reducing our carbon footprint. We always are open to environmental technologies and are thrilled our evaluation deemed these projects feasible for Ikea."
In terms of U.S. sustainable building practices, Ikea already has solar energy systems operational in Brooklyn, N.Y., Pittsburgh, Pa., and Tempe, Ariz.; and installation is underway at eight locations in California. Additionally, solar water heating systems exist in Charlotte, N.C., Draper, Utah, and Orlando and Tampa, Fla. A geothermal system is incorporated into the store being built and opening Fall 2011 in Centennial, Col.
Other sustainable efforts include: integrating innovative materials into the production process; working with Global Forest Watch to maintain sustainable resources; flat-packing our goods for an efficient distribution system; recycling approximately 75 percent of waste (paper, wood, plastic, etc.); and incorporating environmental measures into the construction of our buildings in terms of energy-efficient HVAC and lighting systems, recycled construction materials, low volatile organic compound emitting paint, skylights in the warehouse and water-conserving restrooms.