Archive for August 7th, 2007
Youth furniture manufacturers showing at the Las Vegas Market are answering consumer demand with offerings that include more full beds and darker finishes.
Keith Covey, vice president, sales and marketing for Furniture Basics, said his best-selling bed is a twin over full and when it comes to finishes, natural finishes are waning.
“White will always be a top seller for girls,” Covey said. “But darker finishes are really coming on strong.”
Alligator Furniture made its Las Vegas debut with several collections including a slatted bunk featuring a twin over full in a classic denim finish.
The California-based company offers the bed in white, walnut and antique black, $1,199, but Sherry Lintvedt from Alligator says the denim is a best seller for boys.
John Boyd, owner of John Boyd Designs, also is selling more full beds and his Vegas debuts included Maplehurst, a maple collection offered in medium and dark finishes. There are about 70 SKUs between the two finishes with a full bed retailing for about $800 and a twin for $650.
“It’s too early to tell which will sell better, but this is crafted of real maple wood made in the USA,” Boyd said.
Each John Boyd piece is finished with Resistec varnish so it is resistant to scratches, acetone, nail polish remover and most household chemicals, further extending the life of the product.
Standard had several youth introductions including Midnight Meadow, part of Kathy Ireland’s Young Attitude collection. This collection features a black finish, the counterpart to last year’s white group, Meadow Garden.
The company also bowed Blair Park, another black finished group that has wicker accents on the headboards and drawer fronts.
Powell, too, introduced a handful of collections like Emma, a 10-piece white girls’ group with simple, French country styling and a whimsical Dollhouse collection featuring a twin bed in white with baby blue accents, $699.
Eagle Industries debuted Hudson Bay, a 20-piece group available in five finishes from dark and rich to white. A full bed in the Hudson Bay group is about $400.
August 7th, 2007
Makeup of board of directors at center of dispute
The Wynnefield Group, dissident shareholder of infant and juvenile products manufacturer Crown Crafts, sent a letter Monday offering what it called “a compromise agreement allowing for an amicable resolution” of the proxy struggle over the makeup of the Crown Crafts board of directors.
In what has become a tit-for-tat exchange, Crown Crafts had earlier in the day sent a letter signed by chairman, president and CEO E. Randall Chestnut urging care on the part of stockholders as they consider the alternate “White” and “Gold” proxy slates for director seats issued by itself and Wynnefield, respectively.
Wynnefield has now broadened its tactics, making specific proposals for changes to the structure, remuneration, and duties of the board of directors. These proposals include:
“(i) immediately increase the size of the current board from seven (7) members to nine (9) members;”
“(ii) elect [Wynnefield members] Nelson Obus and Frederick G. Wasserman as directors to fill the vacancies thereby created;
“(iii) form a nominating and governance committee immediately, with either Nelson Obus or Frederick G. Wasserman as one of the members;
“(iv) form a strategic planning committee immediately, with E. Randall Chestnut as one of the members and either Nelson Obus or Frederick G. Wasserman as one of other members, with the intention of hiring a qualified independent consultant to assist management and the Board in determining a future strategic path and aligning future capital allocations to fulfill the agreed upon strategic plan;
“(v) commit to putting to a stockholder vote at the 2008 Annual Meeting of stockholders, and supporting, a binding resolution to de-classify the Board; and
“(vi) amend the non-employee director fee structure to provide that the cash fees paid to non-employee directors, which currently consist of payments of $20,000 per year, plus $2,500 for each Board meeting attended, $2,000 for each committee meeting held not in conjunction with a Board meeting, plus $2,500 for travel time, be paid 50% in cash and 50% in restricted stock of the Company.”
For his part, Chestnut has asserted that the ultimate goal of Wynnefield is not so much to develop the company’s business, as it is to “explore strategic alternatives for the company, which I believe means that Wynnefield wants us to hang a ‘For Sale’ sign on the company,” a move of which Chestnut said: “if pursued, would seriously disrupt and harm our business and customer relationships and cause many of our key employees to leave the company.”
August 7th, 2007
The hardwood lumber resource from Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers, Inc.’s territory is meeting the needs of today without compromising those of future generations - sustainably.
The resource from the Appalachian Hardwood Forest is more than sustainable by this definition and is actually banking for the future at a rate of 2.29 trees for each tree that is harvested. The announcement comes following research by the U.S. Forest Service of the Forest Inventory and Analysis data compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“We have known for several years that natural regeneration and forest management in the Appalachian region was providing a stable timber base,” said AHMI President Tom Inman. “This analysis verifies that and extends it further to show that in the 344 counties of the Appalachian Region as AHMI defines it, the growth to removal ratio is more than 2.29 to 1.
“We believe this goes beyond basic sustainability and verifies an expanding resource and timber base for the future,” he said.
AHMI is a regional trade association headquartered in High Point, NC. Its mission is to promote the hardwood timber and products from the Appalachian Region of the eastern United States.
The association’s bylaws dictate the producing region as 344 counties in 12 states. These counties must meet elevation, soil composition and climate requirements to be included.
AHMI staff asked U.S. Forest Service officials to research the FIA data for this area and compare with the past 20 years. The analysis discovered the Appalachian Hardwood timber base has grown to more than 65.4 million acres, up 300,000 acres since 1990, and includes more than 115 billion cubic feet of trees.
“The public is becoming more interested in sustainable resources and green building and our research proves that the Appalachian Hardwood Forest exceeds simple sustainability levels and definitions,” Inman said. “Consumers can be assured when they purchase hardwood products from lumber manufactured from AHMI members that the resource is sustaining more growth than harvest. The data shows that Appalachian is synonymous with sustainable.”
AHMI launched its “Appalachian Hardwood Verified Sustainable” campaign in July. AHMI members can provide customers with documents of sustainability verifying that the Appalachian Hardwood Timber was manufactured from the AHMI territory. The documentation can be passed on through distribution and manufacturing companies.
AHMI has also established a new website, www.appalachianhardwood.info to explain the verified sustainable promotion.
AHMI was founded in 1928 and represents more than 200 lumber manufacturers, distributors, consumers, foresters and suppliers to the industry. For more information, contact sustainable@appalachianhardwood.info.
August 7th, 2007
SUN VALLEY - Authorities today were attempting to determine the cause of a fire at a Sun Valley furniture store, a fire department spokesman said.
The fire at a one-story building at San Fernando Road and Ensign Avenue was reported at 9:55 last night and knocked down in about 30 minutes, fire officials said.
No injuries were reported, officials said.
A damage estimate was not immediately available.
August 7th, 2007
CHARLES SCHILLINGER The York Dispatch
Article Last Updated: 08/06/2007 12:38:35 PM EDT
Click photo to enlarge
Adam Bittner, 8, of Manchester Township, gets comfortable Friday while shopping with his family…
A Red Lion business that turned a century old this year will close its doors for good this fall.
Zarfos Furniture at 21 W. Broadway started a going-out-of-business sale Friday, one that will continue until the store closes, said Rich Bulgarelli, the current owner.
“It’s time,” he said. “It was a tough decision, but it’s a business decision.”
Bulgarelli said he hired an outside firm to help with the liquidation process, which should take until September or October.
Zarfos Furniture has been faced with major changes in the furniture industry, Bulgarelli said, including that people increasingly are turning to the Internet and wholesale clubs for their furniture.
“Things are just drastically different, and maybe where we’re located is not as good an advantage as it once used to be,” he said.
There have also been major changes recently in styles of furniture and where furniture is made.
Zarfos Furniture traces its roots to C.W. Detwiler, which was purchased by Charles Zarfos and his brother-in-law, Earl Burg, in January
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1907. Zarfos eventually bought out his partner in the 1930s and a decade later formed a new partnership with his children.
In 1995, Bulgarelli came on as a sales manager and assumed ownership of the company in 2003.
The going-out-of-business sale that started Friday features some of the lowest prices the store has ever offered, Bulgarelli said.
– Reach Charles Schillinger at 505-5431 or cschillinger@yorkdispatch.com.
August 7th, 2007
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