Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
September 6,
2013 by in Industry, Legal 
The state of Delaware has filed a consumer fraud case against The Amish Mill, a furniture store in Wilmington, Del.
The fraud case and a cease-and-desist order—banning some practices and undisclosed fees—also names Michael D. Wharton, who owns the store.
"We're acting to protect consumers by ensuring they get what they pay for and to hold this business to account for its obligation to provide the products it sold and promised to deliver," Beau Biden, Delaware Attorney General, said.
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Source: Delaware Online
September 5,
2013 by in Business Strategy, Industry
N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory on Wednesday accused unnamed High Point manufacturers of pushing for a loophole in state law so they can hire illegal immigrants instead of American citizens.
The comment came as McCrory discussed a bill that widens an exemption in checks for citizenship that employers are typically required to run on potential employees.
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Source: News & Record
September 5,
2013 by in Financial Reports, Industry
Conn's Inc.'s (CONN) fiscal second-quarter profit rose 65% as furniture and mattress sales led strong revenue growth, helping to mask weakness in the credit segment.
The Texas-focused seller of consumer electronics, home appliances, and other products has been focusing on higher-margin items such as furniture and mattresses to improve its performance in recent quarters. In the latest period, furniture and mattress sales were up 59% amid stronger volume and improved average selling prices.
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Source: The Wall Street Journal
September 5,
2013 by in Economic News, Industry
Good news for furniture land! For the first time since 2009, previously occupied U.S. homes are selling at a pace associated with a healthy market.
Sales jumped 6.5 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.4 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. Over the past 12 months, sales have surged 17.2 percent. The trend shows that housing remains a driving force for the economy even as mortgage rates have risen from record lows.
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Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune
September 4,
2013 by in Designer Weekly, Economic News, Industry
The recovery in the housing market has helped spark an upturn on spending on home goods and materials.
When a house is underwater with more owed on the mortgage than the residence is worth, homeowners usually limit spending to emergency repairs. But with home sales and prices on the upswing, Americans are investing to improve their homes.
That's helped give a nice lift to home furnishing retailers. Privately held retailers of home-related goods and materials are seeing strong sales growth, according to new data from Sageworks, a financial information company.
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Source: Investors Business Daily
September 4,
2013 by in Business Strategy, Industry
Thunder grumbled outside the offices of Ashley Furniture Industries on Baltimore Road last week, a sound that did not escape the ears of Ron Wanek , the furniture giant's chairman of the board.
"So we're blessed with more rain?" Wanek said.
His wry delivery elicited a few knowing chuckles from those gathered around a small conference table. The rain this summer has been more a curse than a blessing, wreaking havoc on the construction schedule of an $80 million plant that has been hit by a year's worth of setbacks.
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Source: Individual.com
September 4,
2013 by in Bedding, Industry, Legal, Product
The federal agency that enforces workplace discrimination complaints has sued Carolina Mattress Guild, accusing the company of subjecting black employees to a racially hostile work environment and unlawfully firing an employee who complained about racial remarks that included the "N-word."
The mattress manufacturer and distributor is being sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
According to the EEOC complaint, from as early as June of last year through about Aug. 9, 2012, Ricky Clark, a truck loader, and other black employees, were subjected to unwelcome derogatory racial comments and slurs by a white employee at Carolina Mattress Guild.
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Source: High Point Enterprise