Archive for August 15th, 2007
Furniture Row Racing, a Denver-based NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series racing team, announced today that Kenny Wallace is stepping down as the driver of car #78.
Officials for the team have stated that Wallace will remain with the team as a consultant and will be called upon to run races as needed, but that he will also be available to drive for another team.
Joe Garone, Team Manager for Furniture Row Racing, said: “Kenny has been the perfect driver for us as we have looked to his veteran experience during our first year and a half in the Cup Series.
“His personality has brought much positive exposure to the team and to Furniture Row Companies, the team’s owner and sponsor. This has included winning the fan vote to participate in this year’s All-Star Challenge events.”
Looking at the remainder of this season, officials for Furniture Row Racing have said that they will be intensifying efforts to fine tune their performance in preparation for next season’s run.
Wallace added: “I’ve enjoyed my run as the primary driver for Furniture Row despite all the challenges of a new team. I look forward to helping them as they move forward in building a program that will be competitive for many years to come.”
August 15th, 2007
Furniture Retailer Shares Mixed After Morgan Keegan Cuts Haverty on Economic Environment
NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of furniture retailers were mixed Tuesday after a Morgan Keegan analyst cut his rating on Haverty Furniture Companies Inc. stock, citing concerns that the economic environment may squash the potential for more share price growth.
Analyst Laura A. Champine downgraded the shares to “Market Perform” from “Outperform” and said the shares have risen 11 percent since the beginning of the month.
“The company’s consistent inventory reduction in 2007 and management’s upbeat attitude towards the second half of the year leave some upside potential, but we do not believe that this is enough reason to carry the stock higher in the near-term given the current macroeconomic issues that continue to plague the sector,” Champine said.
The furniture retail sector has struggled to keep sales rising amid a slowdown in the housing market.
Haverty shares fell 32 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $10.71, while Hooker Furniture shares dipped 82 cents, or 4.4 percent, to $17.89.
Furniture Brands International shares Inc. shares declined 43 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $11.61.
La-Z-Boy Inc. shares, though, rose 7 cents to $9.60, and Ethan Allen Interiors shares climbed 6 cents to $32.16.
August 15th, 2007
Drop in furniture, food and fuel prices sends inflation down sharply and catches City by surprise
Angela Balakrishnan and Ashley Seager
Wednesday August 15, 2007
What is the connection between a leather sofa, a shopping trip to New York and mortgage payments? Answer: the rate of inflation, which has been sent falling by a sharp fall in the price of furniture.
Discount chains such as DfS and Land of Leather slashed the cost of big ticket household furniture last month, setting off a chain reaction which saw the value of the pound fall below $2 yesterday for the first time in two months, making a New York shopping spree less attractive. Falling prices also mean the Bank of England is less likely to put up interest rates again this year - good news for home buyers.
Together with tumbling food and petrol prices last month, the record 10% furniture discount helped send inflation to 1.9%.
The plunge wrong-footed City analysts, who expected a more modest fall, but the enthusiasm of consumers for furniture has become increasingly significant to the statistics. Food accounts for a 9% weighting in the calculations, furniture is 2% and fuel 4%.
In June, a record rise in furniture prices was a key factor in holding up inflation. The previous spike in the sector’s prices, in March, was the main driver as the consumer price index (CPI) rose to a 10-year high of 3.1%, forcing the Bank’s governor, Mervyn King, to write an explanatory letter to Gordon Brown, who was chancellor at the time.
Furniture prices have always gone up in pre-sale periods such as Easter, summer and the new year, but this year the trend has become more marked as five increases in interest rates from the Bank over 12 months forced furniture stores to fight harder for shoppers’ cash.
“Higher interest rates have squeezed consumer confidence as shoppers have less money available to spend. Items which are less essential, like furniture, get squeezed and demand is in danger of dropping so it leads to heavy discounting,” said Richard Dodd, spokesman for the British Retail Consortium.
“This year the rises and falls in prices have seemed more volatile because of the impact of rising interest rates. We have seen a rapid sequence of increases, which has put more pressure on consumers compared to previous years.”
Richard Ratner, retail analyst at Seymour Pierce, said the discounting had come despite the wet weather encouraging shoppers to switch spending from summer clothes to home furnishings.
“We are seeing companies like Land of Leather, MFI and SCS promoting merchandise heavily and we certainly believe this is where the strength of furniture sales lies. Retailers are battling it out at the expense of prices.”
The other key elements that caused the fall in inflation - the biggest one-month move for five years - were a small drop in petrol prices after a 2p-a-litre rise in July last year and the supermarket price war that broke out recently.
Food prices fell by nearly 2% in July, knocking 0.2 of a percentage point off the CPI. It was the first fall in seven months and surprised analysts who had expected the recent floods to have pushed food prices up again. But they pointed out that the influence of supermarkets is so strong that it outweighed, for now at least, any other influences.
The Office for National Statistics did warn that there could be an increase in food prices as a result of the floods later in the year, with cauliflower, cabbages and broccoli most likely to be affected. Furniture prices might also rise slightly in the coming months, it added.
But further downward pressure on inflation came from the latest round of cuts in electricity and gas prices, a key factor pulling inflation down from its March peak.
The other key measure of inflation, the retail price index - which forms the basis of many wage deals - also fell sharply, to 3.8% from 4.4%. The new figure was the lowest since last October and the fall was the biggest for nearly six years.
The news caused a stir in financial markets, sending the pound back below the $2 level for the first time since late June, while government bond yields dropped in speculation that the Bank of England would not raise interest rates again this year from the current 5.75%.
The Bank had expected inflation to fall further towards its 2% target but not this fast. Analysts said it would have taken comfort from the fact that inflationary pressures seem to be on the wane.
“July’s quite stunning UK consumer prices figures provide some reassurance that inflation is not back from the dead,” said Jonathan Loynes at Capital Economics.
Some analysts were still insisting that the Bank may yet raise rates. But Robert Barrie, chief economist at CSFB, said he was comfortable with his bank’s forecast that interest rates had peaked at 5.75%
“It would seem sensible to pause on interest rates now that the prospects are for slower growth and with these weaker inflation numbers.”
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August 15th, 2007
Designer furniture on display at a store in Bangalore in this file picture.
Anjali Prayag
Bangalore, Aug 14 There are over one lakh dollar millionaires in the country and more than 60,000 of them furnish their homes with uber luxury items. From a Hickory chair that cost about Rs 50,000 to Glant furnishings (priced at about Rs 3,000 a metre) to floral arrangements from Natural Decorations Inc that carry price tags of Rs 4,000 to 25-inch mattresses that would make the wallet lighter by Rs 50,000, the lifestyle of the rich and famous in India is now on par with millionaires in the US or Europe.
Industry observers estimate that the home interiors spend of rich Indians would be about 30 per cent of the cost of their homes. Mr J. Sasidar, CEO of Bangalore’s Mon Chateau, a store that sells American luxury lifestyle products, says Indian homes are increasingly resembling those of rich Americans and Europeans. “Families are spending close to Rs 10 lakh on doing up a single room and they don’t mind changing the look every five years.”
Indian homes are now familiar with Stickley and Bernhardt furniture, Simon Pearce unleaded crystal glassware, Sahelia luxury bed linen and Merida Meridian rugs. Renaissance Homes, a Delhi-based lifestyle store, is the exclusive distributor for top-end furniture brands such as Baker and Henredon, Bernhardt and McGuire.
“Clients with a Rs 3-crore house would easily spend about Rs 75 lakh on premium furniture”, says Ms Anjaleka Kripalani, who founded Renaissance along with her sister in 1995. She has seen the premium furniture market grow from about 0.01 per cent of the furniture market about a decade ago to two per cent now.
The size of the total furniture market in India is estimated at Rs 1,000 crore, with the home market constituting about 65 per cent. The premium and luxury segment of the market combined accounts for 30 per cent (21 per cent premium and 8 per cent luxury) of the home furniture market, according to Technopak Advisors, a business consulting firm.
The furniture market in India is likely to witness an accelerated growth, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 30 per cent, according to Mr Puneet Khanna, Senior Consultant, Technopak Advisors.
August 15th, 2007
By MARK NEWMAN Courier staff writer
OTTUMWA — If Emmett Agee shopped at furniture stores, he’d be broke.
Agee and his wife, Esther, have a house filled with hand-carved wooden furniture. From the dining room set to the grandfather clock, nearly every wooden item in their home was built by Emmett.
“My father was a carpenter; I learned the trade from my dad, but I always fooled around with cabinetmaking,” he said. “I worked both trades. They’re both connected.”
A simplified explanation of the difference between carpentry and the cabinetmaking Emmett holds so dear is that cabinetmakers create their pieces in a shop; carpenters generally work on the job site.
Not that Agee hasn’t put in his time in construction: He was a foreman on the job decades ago that put the addition on the back of the Ottumwa Courier building.
Now 90 years old and retired, Emmett has slowed down. Slowed down, but not stopped. He just finished a music console to hold his CD player and CDs. Esther said her husband can be found listening to old country music nearly every day.
“He lost his wife; I lost my husband. After six years of being widowed, I found him on the dance floor,” she said.
They’ve been married 26 years.
“We’ve got 10 kids between us and have wonderful relationships with all of them,” Emmett said. “I build a lot of furniture for the kids.”
For example, he cut just the parts for 15 grandfather clock cases. He bought some “works” for the clock, then started assembling the clocks. He gave one to each child.
One of the clocks stands in his dining room today. It shares space with the hand-built dining room table and chairs. Nearby sit other Emmett Agee creations: a magazine rack, a plant stand and on the table, a lazy susan.
The bedrooms, the living room and the kitchen are stocked with hardwood furnishings, too.
“I think the oak is the most beautiful,” said Esther, “but it’s so heavy! Even an [oak] dining room chair is heavy, especially when you’re 90 years old.”
And at that age, Emmett has slowed down on the number of pieces he builds. Which, said Esther, is a good thing.
“We don’t have any place to put them.”
August 15th, 2007
(Crain’s) — Carson Pirie Scott is opening a furniture store in north suburban Vernon Hills, making it the department store chain’s fifth such location in the Chicago area.
The free-standing, 47,000-square-foot store will accompany an existing Carson’s department store at the Westfield Hawthorne Center shopping mall. The grand opening is scheduled for Sept. 29. A “soft opening” is likely a few days before that, a spokeswoman says.
“We believe the addition of the furniture gallery will enhance the total shopping experience for our Vernon Hills customer,” Bud Bergren, president and chief executive officer of Bon-Ton Stores Inc., which owns the Carson Pirie Scott nameplate, said in a statement.
The Vernon Hills store is expected to carry furniture from Martha Stewart’s Signature line, Tommy Bahama and Better Homes & Gardens Furniture Collection.
York, Pa.-based Bon-Ton Stores has Carson’s furniture stores in Schaumburg, Wilmette, Lombard and Naperville. The company operates various department store chains, including Elder-Beerman, Younkers and Bergner’s.
August 15th, 2007
MARTIN CRUTSINGER The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Consumers went shopping for clothes, furniture and electronics products last month, helping give a modest boost to retail sales despite continued weakness in the demand for new cars.
The Commerce Department reported yesterday that retail sales edged up 0.3 percent in July after having plunged by 0.7 percent in June, the worst showing in 16 months.
Consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of total economic activity, is being watched carefully now. The fear is that the recent turmoil in financial markets combined with slumping home prices will make Americans more hesitant to spend in the months ahead, raising the threat of a possible recession.
Wall Street suffered through some stomach-churning days last week because of worries about how credit problems that began in the market for subprime mortgages might spread to other types of loans. The Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world sought to calm investor fears by injecting billions of dollars into the banking system in an effort to keep
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short-term interest rates from rising.
Inventory up again: In a second report, the Commerce Department said that businesses built up their stockpiles by 0.4 percent in June, slightly below a 0.5 percent increase in May.
The June increase was right in line with expectations. Economists are looking for inventory building to help bolster economic growth in coming months.
The 0.3 percent rise in overall retail sales last month was slightly better than the 0.2 percent gain that had been expected. It was driven by increased demand for electronics gear and appliances, furniture and clothing. These increases helped to offset a 0.3 percent slump in sales at auto dealerships which followed an even bigger 2.9 percent drop in June.
Consumers have been the standout performers during the current economic expansion, but there are indications that their spending spree could be slowing in the face of a spike in gasoline prices in the spring and a two-year slump in housing which has sent home prices down in many formerly red-hot markets, making homeowners feel less wealthy and less inclined to spend on other items.
For the April-June quarter, consumer spending rose at an annual rate of just 1.3 percent, the weakest showing since late 2005 when the country was being battered by the impact of the Gulf Coast hurricanes.
Even with the slowdown in consumer demand, the overall economy rebounded to an annual rate of 3.4
percent in the second quarter following growth at a barely discernible 0.6 percent in the first three months of this year.
Analysts are looking for economic growth to come it at a pace of around 2.5 percent in the second half of this year.
The 0.3 percent rise in retail sales would have been a slightly higher 0.4 percent increase if it had not been for a big 0.8 percent fall in sales at service stations, reflecting a drop in gasoline prices after a spike this spring.
The 0.3 percent rise in retail sales was a bit of a surprise given reports last week from the nation’s big retail chains reported generally disappointing results in July.
August 15th, 2007
Heath E. Combs — Furniture Today,
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Manufacturer and importer Chromcraft Revington reported a second quarter loss of $3.3 million as sales declined 19% from a year earlier, to $32.8 million.
Last year, the company earned about $700,000 in the second quarter and $1.8 million in the first six months. In this year’s first half, losses totaled $4.5 million.
In the second quarter, the net loss was primarily due to the lower sales volume, consolidation of its sales force and an industry wide slowdown, according to Chairman and CEO Ben Anderson-Ray.
“Over the last several months we have made significant progress in transforming our business model. We continue to shift the business toward use of the global supply chain by outsourcing products and reducing reliance on U.S.-based manufacturing. Simultaneously, we are moving our organization from autonomous operating divisions to a unified organization,” Anderson-Ray said.
Chromcraft-Revington said its commercial furniture shipments have increased this year because of higher shipments of seating products. The company said it also reduced its backlog by $3.3 million of backlog reduction.
In the second quarter the company recorded non-cash, pretax charges of $2 million for inventory writedowns, and $1.1 million for asset impairment charges.
Anderson-Ray said that as its organizational structure has changed, the company has reduced employment by 37% from a year ago.
Chromcraft Revington sells furniture under the CR-Home banner of Chromcraft, Peters-Revington, Silver Furniture, Cochrane Furniture and Sumter brand names.
August 15th, 2007
Furniture Today,
To develop baby bedding, essentials
BASSETT, Va. — Bassett Furniture Inds. has inked a licensing agreement with Canadian modern parent brand Babylicious to develop a line of baby bedding and essentials under the Bassettbaby brand name.
Bassettbaby will create a “The World of Bassettbaby” in nursery and infant product categories, the company said in a press release.
In addition to Babylicious for infant bedding and accessories, Bassett partners with Dayton, N.J-based Kids Preferred for plush dolls.
The company said it will announce a layette partner soon. It will unveil new products next month at the ABC Kids Expo in Las Vegas.
“It is our intention to add more product categories that complement the brand and our strategy of offering a complete product solution for first time moms and dads for the care of their infant or toddler. We all believe the powerful trust in the brand and the combination of various product categories can create excellent marketing opportunities for retailer,” Lex Bendall, vice president of Bassett Juvenile.
Babylicious was founded in 2005 and specializes in 100% cotton products sold in more than 350 boutiques and major retailers.
“This new partnership is a perfect marriage between our burgeoning baby bedding company and a well-established baby furniture manufacturer,” said Tina Barkley, president of Vancouver, British Columbia-based Babylicious Gear Ltd. “We are thrilled to team up with Bassettbaby to give our customers everything they need for their stylish nurseries: hip, fresh bedding and accessories, and beautifully crafted cribs.”
August 15th, 2007
The Furniture Cantilever Rack Open Web System allows easy storage of a furniture storage rack of any size and shape—while saving storage space and even fire prevention expenses
Furniture comes in all shapes and sizes, from dinette chairs and mediate retrieval and delivery can be a neat trick. Fortunately, furniture cantilever rack open web systems now make it easier than ever.
The Village, a retirement community known as “Florida’s friendliest retirement home town”, services their residents through their own furniture outlet called Southern Lifestyles. With sales growing drastically, they grew from one store to two. For storage, they had already outgrown one warehouse and expanded into a second, then a third addition. Despite the space additions, however, the warehousing was just not efficient.
Neither was their furniture storage rack system. “It was kind of a mix-and-match system over the years,” says Steven Drake, the Village’s owner. “We would acquire old racking systems from other companies, then reassemble them to suit our own needs. We probably had five different types welded and put together. We were really outgrowing it.”
With the company experiencing such rapid growth, they realized that they needed to provide properly for it. They opted for a brand new warehouse that tripled their space, and was arranged for their exact line of business. Different areas of the warehouse have been utilized for different types of items, and shipping and receiving have been made entirely separate so they don’t interfere with each other.
The key to efficiently utilizing the new warehouse space was a new racking system including a furniture cantilever rack open web system, manufactured by Steel King, Inc. and installed by Craft Equipment, a Steel King premier dealer.
Per-square-foot storage space has been greatly increased. “We can store so much more now,” Drake says. “Because it’s open, this system is much more furniture-friendly. You can store long and short items, and boxes as well.”
Cantilever racks are an ideal storage solution for long, bulky or odd-shaped items such as furniture. There are no interfering columns between racks, so loads may be placed anywhere along the rack. The lack of a front column saves space normally lost to a rack structure, and adds handling clearance. The open web design easily accommodates the routing of in-rack sprinkler systems if required by local building or fire codes.
The Village’s system provided great savings in fire protection by using a new style of shelf decking. “The big thing about it was that we could get a decking system which was first of all metal, so it was non-flammable, and second it had holes in it to carry down water from the sprinkler system,” Drake continues. “That meant we could mount fire sprinklers on the ceiling and not need them for every level of racking.”
Because the racking was all uniform, it made for a far neater appearance than their previous warehouse. “You would have walked into the old warehouse and said, ‘what a dump,’” Drake says. “The racks in the new warehouse are close to perfect, in alignment, and I think we’ll find our employees are going to go ahead and take care of things better.”
Installation of the cantilever rack system was very smooth as well. When the building was up and ready, the racks arrived, right on time. The whole installation—warehouse, racks and all—took less than 6 weeks.
“It’s a phenomenal install,” Drake concludes. “It’s a great product which is now providing the benefit of proper storage and handling, protecting goods bound for our customers’ homes.”
For more information about this article contact Donald Heemstra at Steel King, 2700 Chamber St., Stevens Point, WI 54481 or call at 1-800-826-0203, Email: dheemstra@steelking.com or visit the website at www.steelking.com.
August 15th, 2007
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