March 18,
2013 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Community/Charitable Support on March 19, 2013
Andy Bernstein, founder of FurnitureDealer.Net, believes encouraging a little March Madness in the workplace is a slam-dunk when it comes to creating a positive and upbeat corporate culture, and each year his employees vie for cash prizes and bragging rights during the annual FurnitureDealer.Net Bracket Challenge.
This season, Bernstein has added a new twist, inviting a number of industry friends and all of the FurnitureDealer.Net premium clients to join in a second pool. Participating retailers, manufacturers and suppliers opting into the FurnitureDealer.Net Industry Bracket Challenge can score $1,000 (first place) or $500 (second place) for their favorite charity. That is, of course, if they accurately predict the most teams that advance through the tournament en route to the NCAA national championship, which begins Tuesday and concludes April 8.
According to Bernstein, there is no cost for employees or industry friends to enter, and FurnitureDealer.Net donates the prizes for the Industry Bracket Challenge. Prizes will be awarded in crumpled $2 bills, a nod to the company's well-known marketing tool.
"The winners will decide which charities get the money: It can be March of Dimes, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, City of Hope, the American Cancer Society, ACLU, your child's high school booster, you name it," Bernstein said. "And, if you're not a college basketball expert, no problem. Easily half the people in our office know nothing about basketball, and fill out their bracket based on random guesses. It's even more fun when somebody who doesn't know a thing about basketball actually wins!"
Bernstein-a die-hard fan of the University of Minnesota Gophers-said that like the company's office pool, "the primary objective of our industry challenge is to have fun. Many of our clients and industry friends have personal connections to the schools, and we expect that to result in some interesting Facebook chatter. Just last week I learned that one of our client's daughters is a junior at Indiana University, and another's son is enrolled at the University of Michigan. We expect more connections like these to become evident among those participating and smack talk will be encouraged!"
March 17,
2013 by in UnCategorized
By Aggregated Content in on March 18, 2013
from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christie-carmelle-lopez/black-and-white-is-back_b_2898635.html?utm_hp_ref=style&ir=Style
Black and white are everywhere this season, from couture runways to sidewalk window displays. You'll see this dynamic duo iterated in a number of ways, from color blocks chockfull of contrast, to perky polka dots, serious stripes and bold graphic elements. And since interiors always follow fashion, I predict we'll start to see black and white infiltrating homes and commercial spaces in upcoming seasons.
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March 17,
2013 by in UnCategorized
By Aggregated Content in Youth, Juvenile Furniture on March 18, 2013
from http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/suit_blames_furniture_maker_in_childs_death/?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=daily_rss
A lawsuit filed by a suburban Chicago woman blames a furniture manufacturer for the 2011 death of her 2-year-old son.
Lisa Siefert of Barrington, Ill., says her son Shane died when a child's dresser made by Gemme Juvenile Inc. tipped over on top of the toddler, the Chicago Tribune reports. The company did not provide warnings or instructions to help prevent the tip-over, the suit alleges.
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March 17,
2013 by in UnCategorized
By Aggregated Content in Business Strategy on March 18, 2013
from https://newsdesk4.moreover.com/click/?p=Qy84Mzg5ODUwMTYzJm49TkFQQ08&a=MTM2OTcxNTExNDA&f=TmV3cw&s=cmljaHhtbA&u=YWNyZW5zaGF3QG5hcGNvLmNvbQ&c=TkFQQ08&i=MA&e=RHViaWIuY29t&d=1989&t=1
Without a willingness to lug cheap flat-pack wardrobes home and wrestle with self-assembly, there would be no IKEA, but in Asia, where the locals have other ideas, the Swedish furniture giant thinks it still has a bright future. As it expands in China and prepares to break into India, IKEA Chief Executive Mikael Ohlsson trusts that its core concept, influenced by painstakingly acquired local knowledge, will, over time, give it an edge.
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March 17,
2013 by in UnCategorized
By Aggregated Content in Furniture Retailing on March 18, 2013
from http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2013/03/17/after-all-that-new-restoration-hardware-store-still-not-open/FoRttyBjbQxn1xxdXK1GHM/story.html
On March 5, Gary Friedman, the silver-haired CEO emeritus of Restoration Hardware, was warned that a party in Boston the next night to celebrate the opening of his enormous store could get seriously overcrowded.
"We can ask for forgiveness [afterward]," he told the group, according to people who were there.
Friedman denies saying that, but 24 hours later, police and fire officials were indeed summoned to the former Louis Boston building at 234 Berkeley St. to block a horde of smartly dressed men and women trying to shoehorn themselves through the store's gaping steel-and-glass doors.
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