March 19,
2013 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Executive Changes on March 20, 2013
Chris DeLisa has been elected president of the International Home Furnishings Representatives Association.
DeLisa, IHFRA's 75th president, has been active in the association for many years and has had a varied career in the furniture industry. Heis a retail veteran whose understanding of his customers challenges comes from hands-on experience. In 1992, Chris started his furniture career in his familys retail store, MSO Furniture, one of the largest independent New Jersey retailers.
He left the multi-million dollar family business in 2005 at age 31 to become a manufacturers representative with Standard Furniture and Albany Upholstery. From 2007 through 2010, he served as vice president of sales for Home Line Furniture DeLisa made the jump to logistics late in 2010 when he joined Cory 1st Choice Home Delivery as vice president of sales. Currently, he is heading up the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut territory for Universal Furniture.
DeLisa served as president of The Greater New York Home Furnishings Association in 2009 and 2010. In 2010 he also served on the board for the Metropolitan Furnishings Association of New Jersey. Past awards include: 2009 E. Louis Billington Sr. Memorial Salesman of the Year Award for industry service; 2010 Meadoff Memorial Award for Sportsmanship in the Industry; and the Charles B. Costar Dean of IHFRA Award in 2010. He also serves in the capacity of High Point Furniture Market Rep Ambassador.
Delisa and his wife, Fiorella, have 3 children. Until this year he served as the Commissioner of Baseball for the Police Athletic League. He has also been involved in community baseball and basketball leagues.
IHFRA chose its 2013-2014 slate of officers during its annual Board of Directors meeting in High Point on March 9. Joining DeLisa on the IHFRA Executive Committee are: first vice president Matthew Keepers, At-Large Member; secondnd vice president, Frank Lorenzo, Florida Home Furnishings Representatives Association; secretary/treasurer, Geoff Weed, Midwest Furniture Club; and chairman of the board, Mike Root, At-Large Member.
The IHFRA Executive Committee will be sworn in at the IHFRA Presidential Gala on Friday, April 19 at the International Home Furnishings Center Ballroom on the 11th Floor of the Design Center. For more information, contact IHFRA at 336.889.3920, or by e-mail. Reservations can be made online here.
March 19,
2013 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in sourcing/importing on March 20, 2013
Full-line furniture vendor Home Meridian International has opened of a new office, design center and showroom in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Grand opening ceremonies were conducted earlier this month with an evening celebration for partners and customers.
Our new Vietnam showroom and design center reinforces our business model of a global technology and efficiency driven organization. Our commitment is to provide our retail partners with the best product---on time, on-price and on-trend, George Revington, Home Meridian International CEO said. We are making the product development experience much more efficient and productive, and creating a better experience for our retailers.
The opening marks a larger space for HMIs Asian operations, as well as a new showroom for HMI and its brands: Pulaski Furniture, Samuel Lawrence Furniture, Samuel Lawrence Hospitality and Prime Resources International.
In addition to the Ho Chi Minh City location, HMI has offices in Dongguan and Shanghai, China; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. North American offices and locations include corporate headquarters in High Point, and distribution centers in California and North Carolina.
We are truly a global company operating 24 hours a day, Revington said. Our Asian facilities are focused on supply chain, logistics, orders, finance and support our U.S. headquarters in daily activities, updates and analysis. We have a total integration of our information systems providing us with real-time information on all production, shipments and container movements."
March 19,
2013 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Community/Charitable Support on March 20, 2013
City of Hope's Spirit of Life honorees Michael Amini and Michael Goldberg recently visited the City of Hope campus for a tour.
The duo teamed up for a video highlighting their trip and the organization's mission to eliminate cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases. The video also encourages folks to join the furniture industry at the annual dinner.
Amini, of Aico, and Goldberg, of Raymour & Flanigan, will be honored along with Neil Goldberg and Steven Goldberg at the Spirit of Life dinner during the High Point Market. The dinner is Sunday, April 21 at Grandover Resort.
Registration is available online.
March 19,
2013 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on March 20, 2013
More than 200 mattress industry professionals gathered in Orlando early this month for the 2013 International Sleep Products Association conference.
Those included mattress manufacturers, retailers and suppliers from coming together for education, networking and a little rest and relaxation.
The Conference offered attendees timely and relevant educational sessions geared specifically toward the interests of the mattress industry. Topics included marketing to the rationally irrational, the importance of search engine optimization and social media, updates on mattress recycling legislation, ways to increase creativity and imagination in the workplace, and finally, how to really understand an important demographicGeneration Y.
This Industry Conference was a tremendous success, said John Grove Sr. of Spring Air. The quality of speakers and the educational programming were excellent. My two sons, John Jr. and David, and I, were able to take full advantage of the agenda and the many networking opportunities offered.
Traveling to the ISPA Industry Conference in Orlando from California was a worthwhile trip, said Robin Azevedo of McRoskey Mattress Co. I have already shared and even put some marketing and retail ideas into action. Networking is always valuable, and Ill be meeting with a couple of other attendees in the next two weeks. The up-to-date status of the recycling legislation in California and other states is critical information, and I appreciate ISPAs efforts of keeping us informed and involved.
When attendees werent engaged in the educational sessions, they were networking and catching up with friends during one of ISPAs many receptions, including a special event for the ISPA Womens Network where they mixed and mingled with other like-minded women in the mattress industry.
Visit here more information on the ISPA Industry Conference.
March 19,
2013 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on March 20, 2013
Furniture retailer DecorSecrets has opened a new 14,000-square-foot store in Dania Beach, Fla.
The store, established by industry veterans Manny Better and David Guy, was designed by retail strategist Connie Post, CEO of Affordable Design Solutions.
Since opening, the store has been generating rave reviews. "It's fresh, it's different, it's eclectic," Better said. "People walk into this store and the first word out of their mouth is 'Wow!'"
According to Post, DecorSecrets is the first project in her career in which she was involved in all aspects, not only of the store design, but also in selecting upholstery, case goods and decorative accessories.
"We created the entire brand experience, including the name-inspired by Elle Décor and Victoria's Secret-wall graphics, and logo design." She turned to industry veteran Kimberley Wray, of Kimberley Wray Communications, to create the tagline that dominates the store's graphics and the store's television advertising campaign: "Pssst...it's all about fashion!"
"My goal was to create a completely different shopping experience that would excite the consumer, using oversize, whimsical and original 20-foot wall graphics in bright blue and green that convey the spirit of the brand," Post said. "A ten-foot silhouette of a "modern shopping girl" was created to celebrate our target customer and the unique shopping experience."
The large, open space employs hip string curtains and stained concrete floors. "The store is overflowing with color stories, fresh upholstery by Rowe and case goods by Four Hands," Post said.
"I've never seen anything like it," said Don McIntosh, Natuzzi Americas. "It's a fabulous layout, and one of the nicest displays I've ever seen in South Florida. The merchandise is so different, not things customers are going to see in other places."
Guy said the store's merchandise assortment is different and more eclectic than other stores in the market area.
"That was by design," he said. "We can appeal to a lot of different people at the same time, which was our goal in the way that we merchandised the building."
Better said the goal was to assist the design community and make it easier for designers to meet their project goals. "The design community has responded," he said.