November 9,
2010 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Executive Changes on November 10, 2010
Mike Gay has joined AmericasMart Atlanta as senior vice president of marketing.
He will is responsible for strengthening the AmericasMart brand and its 19 annual markets, leading its team of marketing, advertising, technology, retail services and publishing professionals to drive the overall marketing mission.
A marketing veteran with more than 20 years of experience, Gay joins AmericasMart following a 13-year tenure at Philips Consumer Lifestyle in Atlanta, where he served as vice president of marketing and general manager of e-commerce and value-added services.
"Mike's deep experience and passion for marketing and developing solutions for complex businesses made him an ideal leader for AmericasMart," said Jeffrey Portman Sr., president and chief operating officer of AmericasMart and its AMC Inc. parent entity. "He is well positioned to advance and enhance our marketing mission, our business and our brand."
November 8,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Aggregated Content in Business Strategy on November 9, 2010
from http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z3681526597&z=1150248697
Macy's is stepping back to its roots this holiday season by mixing in local flavor and merchandise relevant to each of its 69 regional districts.
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November 8,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Leather Upholstery on November 9, 2010
Hooker Furniture (NASDAQ: HOFT) will move its Bradington-Young leather upholstery division Cherryville, N.C., operations and corporate offices to Hickory, N.C.
The move consolidates Bradington-Young's domestic upholstery finished goods production at its Hickory plant.
"We expect that the consolidation of manufacturing operations to Hickory, Bradington-Young's newest and most efficient facility, will enhance long-term competitiveness and improve efficiencies," said Alan Cole, president of Hooker Upholstery. "The lagging recovery and the emergence of a more value conscious consumer require the most productive and efficient operating platform for every furniture company.
"Because of the greater efficiencies in our existing Hickory plant, the availability of highly skilled and productive labor in the area and the lower costs and fewer complexities of operating one finished goods manufacturing facility, we see this as a very positive move for Hooker and Bradington-Young. In the short-term, we expect the move will enable us to reduce redundancies and significantly lower our break-even point with the goal of achieving profitability at current sales levels. In the long-term, this can be a great launch pad for growth, as we expect a lot of good employees from Cherryville will move with us, and we believe we have the property to expand the Hickory facility as needed for the foreseeable future. While domestic leather sales at Bradington-Young declined from 2005 to 2009, sales increased at a double-digit rate over the last four quarters."
He added that most of the 140,000-square-foot Cherryville facility's 121 employees will be offered transfers to the consolidated Hickory facility. The Hickory plant, built in 1990, is nearly 100,000 square feet and currently employs 75 workers. In addition, employees from Bradington-Young's Cherryville corporate offices will be offered transfers to an approximately 30,000-square-foot office and support facility near the Hickory plant. That move will eliminate some Cherryville positions due to redundancy with the Hickory operation.
Bradington-Youngs leather cutting and sewing operations will remain at its separate, existing cover plant in Cherryville due to the specialized nature of that auxiliary plant for the storing, cutting and sewing of leather. The leather cutting and sewing plant will supply the consolidated Hickory plant.
Bradington-Young plans to implement the consolidation over the next 60 days and expects it to be complete by mid January 2011.
"Once the consolidation is finalized, we expect the Hickory plant to operate at close to its capacity," Cole said. "We believe this move will result in a strong, growing and profitable upholstery division that contributes financially to the ongoing success of Hooker Furniture."
November 8,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on November 9, 2010
Specialty retailer Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (NYSE: PIR) announced Monday that it continues to see positive business trends with increased traffic, conversion and average ticket for the first two months of the third quarter.
The company included the announcement in a release about a store event for its shareholders and analysts at its Fifth Avenue store in New York this morning.
In the business update, the company said it believes the same-store sales increase for the third quarter ending Nov. 27 will be in a range of 8 percent to 10 percent compared to last year's third quarter same-store sales increase of 13.7 percent. Merchandise margins for the third quarter are expected to be about 58 percent of sales compared to last year's third quarter merchandise margins of 56.6 percent of sales.
"We are pleased with our strong September and October sales results which are on top of strong sales last year," said Alex W. Smith, president and chief executive officer. "We believe this momentum will continue throughout the holiday selling season. As always, we are very diligent with controlling costs. However, to capitalize on and maintain the strong traffic and seek to maximize sales, we have added approximately $3 million of additional store payroll and marketing in the third quarter. We are upbeat on the start of our holiday selling season and look forward to the couple of months that lie ahead."
Pier 1 will announce fiscal 2011 third quarter sales Dec. 2.
November 8,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Delivery on November 9, 2010
Cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports should rise 9 percent in November over the same month last year. That's according to the monthly Global Port Tracker from the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
"Retailers know shoppers still have the economy in mind, so they are being very mindful with inventory levels this year," NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. "The cargo numbers show that retailers are expecting a much better holiday season than they have seen over the past two years, but the industry is still being cautious."
U.S. ports handled 1.34 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units in September, the latest month for which actual numbers are available. That was down 6 percent from August but up 17 percent from September 2009. It was the 10th month in a row to show a year-over-year improvement after December 2009 broke a 28-month streak of year-over-year declines.
October was estimated at 1.29 million TEU, a 9 percent increase over last year. October is historically the busiest month of the year as retailers stock up for the holiday season, but the peak shifted to August this year as retailers brought merchandise into the country early to avoid a repeat of delays on the part of ocean carriers seen earlier this year.¨¨November is forecast at 1.19 million TEU, up 9 percent from last year, and December at 1.1 million TEU, up 1 percent. January 2011 is forecast at 1.08 million TEU, up 7 percent from 2010. But February, traditionally the slowest month of the year, is forecast at 1.06 million TEU, down 5 percent from last year, and March is forecast at 1.04 million TEU, down 10 percent.
Numbers beyond March have not yet been calculated, but a solid recovery is expected in the second and third quarters of 2011 after the usual winter slowdown.¨¨The first half of 2010 totaled 6.9 million TEU, up 17 percent from the same period last year. The full year is forecast at 14.6 million TEU, which would be up 15 percent from the 12.7 million TEU seen in 2009, which was the lowest since the 12.5 million TEU reported in 2003. The 2010 number remains below the 15.2 million TEU seen in 2008 and the peak of 16.5 million TEU seen in 2007.
"Despite the economic uncertainty and the underlying weakness of the economy, we continue not to project a double-dip recession," Hackett Associates founder Ben Hackett said. "Underlying fundamentals remain healthy. Inventory-to-sale ratios, while going up marginally, are still at a 10-year low, suggesting extremely tight supply chain management. Consumer confidence has not changed much over the last four months, but consumer expenditures have picked up. The fear of unemployment and financial exposure may be waning."