October 11,
2010 by in UnCategorized 
By Aggregated Content in Financial Reports on October 12, 2010
from http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z3314868204&z=1000247453
Dallas-based Tuesday Morning Corp. reported its fourth consecutive quarterly increase in sales and customer traffic.
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October 11,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Aggregated Content in Legal on October 12, 2010
from http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z3313493628&z=1000247453
OSHA is proposing $90,000 in fines against
Baby's Dream Furniture of Buena Vista, Ga., for allegedly failing to correct a serious workplace violation.
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October 11,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Executive Changes on October 12, 2010
Furniture industry veteran Kelly Cain joined full-line furniture vendor Lexington Home Brands as senior vice president of operations.
Cain has responsibility for all aspects of domestic and international casegoods operations, including global sourcing, supply chain management, logistics, and the company's distribution complex in Lexington, N.C. He reports to Lexington President and CEO Phil Haney.
Most recently, Cain was with Stanley Furniture, where he served in several executive management positions including product development, international and domestic sales, operations planning and forecasting.
"With 30 years of proven operational experience and a broad understanding of issues that have become critical to driving growth and profitability for our dealers, we are pleased to have an individual of Kelly's caliber as a part of our senior management team," Haney said. "His ability to forge strategic relationships with suppliers, and enhance our efficiency on the supply side of the business will prove impactful as we leverage the success we have experienced in introducing exciting new product designs to our dealers."
"Having observed the significant momentum and market share gains achieved by Lexington over the last two years, I am delighted to join a management team that shares a singular vision for differentiating their company on the basis of exciting product, lifestyle marketing and strong dealer relationships," Cain said. "It will be my responsibility to extend that vision to include an equally effective result on the supply side of the business. I look forward to that opportunity."
October 11,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Delivery on October 12, 2010
Import cargo volume at the major U.S. retail container ports is expected to rise 11 percent in October over the same month last year.
That's according to the latest monthly Global Port Tracker report from the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
"Cargo is still coming through but retailers are mostly stocked up for the holiday season," NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. "Retailers aren't going to say the recession is behind them until their customers tell them it is, but we are hoping to see some sustainable economic growth over the next several weeks. The goal is that inventory levels will match sales as closely as possible."
U.S. ports handled 1.42 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units in August, the latest month for which actual numbers are available. That was up 3 percent from July and up 23 percent from August 2009. It was the ninth month in a row to show a year-over-year improvement after December 2009 broke a 28-month streak of year-over-year declines.
While October has long been the busiest month of the year as retailers rush to fill shelves with merchandise for the holiday season, the peak shifted to August this year. The change came both because of a backlog in cargo from earlier in the year after ocean carriers were slow to replace vessels taken out of service during the recession, and because retailers brought merchandise into the country early to avoid the risk of delays this fall.
September was estimated at 1.37 million TEU, a 20 percent increase over last year. October is forecast at 1.32 million TEU, up 11 percent from last year; November at 1.21 million TEU, also up 11 percent; and December at 1.12 million TEU, up 3 percent. January 2011 is forecast at 1.09 million TEU, up 8 percent from January 2010, and February 2011 at 992,848 TEU, down 1 percent from February 2010.
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 14.7 million TEU, which would be up 16 percent from the 12.7 million TEU 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.
"Trade, particularly imports, is a strong indicator that recovery is sustainable," Hackett Associates founder Ben Hackett said. "We continue to expect the fourth quarter to be seasonally weak, perhaps slightly more so than in the past because the peak has shifted to an earlier month, but it will nonetheless have been a good year."
October 11,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Community/Charitable Support on October 12, 2010
For the second year in a row, Art Van Furniture has awarded $1 million to 50 charities.
This year, the Warren, Mich.-based furniture retailer is inviting the public to decide which of the charities will receive an additional $25,000 bonus.
The $1 million went to Mid-Michigan charities in grants ranging from $5,000 to $50,000.
"The Art Van Million Dollar Charity Challenge was created last year to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Art Van Furniture," said Art Van Elslander, founder and chairman. "We decided to do it again because we recognize the need is as great as ever."
The grants were designed as challenge gifts in order to encourage others to donate and maximize fundraising opportunities. The recipients all are Michigan-based nonprofits focused on children, health and human services programs.
The public will be able to decide which of these 50 charities is awarded additional money by voting online at Art Van Furniture's Web site. Voting begins Wednesday and runs through Oct. 31.
The 2009 Art Van Million Dollar Charity recipients were not left behind. All 50 winning charities from 2009 also received an additional $5,000 this year as well.
"We wanted to offer our continued support to our charity partners so that they can continue their great work," said Gary Van Elslander, Art Van President. Nearly 600 charities applied this year.