Styles, prices sustain curios
Producers upbeat for 1st half, optimistic for fall season
By Jeff Linville -- Furniture Today, August 19, 2002
High Point — The collectors cabinet category remains strong this summer thanks to popularity with several styles and price points.
Jasper Cabinet has announced its closing in early September, but company officials said troubles were related to labor issues, including a prolonged strike, rather than retail response to product. Despite the state of the economy, other manufacturers gave upbeat status reports.
"We're incredibly busy, surprisingly," said John Anderlum, U.S. sales and marketing manager for Buhler Furniture, Canada's largest collectors cabinet manufacturer. Category sales so far this year have been up considerably over the last year, he said, with a strong fall anticipated, too.
The collectors cabinet business is good right now for Howard Miller, said Philip D. Miller, chairman and chief executive officer, with sales being consistently strong all year.
The category has been okay this year for Leick Furniture, except for a typical summer lull, said Greg Leick, chief executive officer.
The summer is always a little slow for Pulaski, too, said Page Wilson, vice president of sales. However, fall orders already had begun at the end of July, an indication of a strong fall.
Philip Reinisch has bounced back strong from a moderately down year in 2001, when the company took credit losses due to the closings of HomeLife and Ward's. This year, however, business isn't just up compared to 2001, sales are 20% ahead of 2000 for the first half, according to Stan Reinisch, chief executive officer.
"To us, we're just astounded," he said. As for what is driving the sales, Reinisch said that in the most-pronounced way he's ever seen, "the best goods are selling the best." This is because of "a constant rise in average unit sale" and is observed at same-store sales, not from selling higher goods to a better-priced store, he noted.
Buhler is doing well at all price points, said Anderlum. Buhler attended its first High Point market in April 2001, taking a spot in the new 220 Elm location. This presence has helped the company secure a lot of new business in the United States to go along with growth in its native Canada.
Pulaski performs well in lower and medium price points, but the better-priced items are selling the best right now. At Leick, the hot price points are around $999 and $1,099.
The curio market was once a low-quality, low-price area, said Miller, and the industry really didn't try to "sell up" to better products. Now consumers are more interested in size and scale and are willing to spend more for that size as well as better quality, according to Miller.
Going hand in hand with better price points is more look to the pieces. The collectors cabinet category is much more of a fashion business these days, said Miller. People are interested in more unique design styles and shapes.
Selling points for Howard Miller's cabinets include locking doors, adjustable levelers, adjustable shelves, halogen lighting, beveled glass and touch lighting. Miller said he has noticed that his company is not alone in offering more features.
Buhler extols the benefits of its piano-hinge door system and dust-control measures. Anderlum added that corner models are still doing extremely well.
Corner curios are Philip Reinisch's most-popular frame, making up about 35% of sales, said Reinisch. At the same time, the hot look continues to be sliding doors. So, at the April High Point market, the company introduced a corner cabinet with sliding door.
"It's called showing no mercy," joked Reinisch. The cabinet isn't triangular, but rather has slender glass windows on both sides, keeping the front panel out from the wall enough for the door to have room to slide sideways.
Pulaski has a new door-slide system that allows the door to be slid in either direction. The new slide mechanism has been added to existing models (at the same wholesale price) as well as four new picture-frame models shown at the San Francisco market in July.
Manufacturers seem to agree that no particular style is leading sales this year. Buhler is doing well with a cross-section of product, mostly in traditional looks. Reinisch said style preferences are as diverse as he's ever seen them.
"I'm not seeing a trend in any direction to tell you where it's going," said Wilson, but as far as materials go, basic cherry and oak continue to drive the Pulaski's business.
Leick has been making oak cabinets forever, said Leick, but also popular are cherry units in a warm cherry or casual brown finish.
At Philip Reinisch, "the finishes maple, oak, cherry, silver, parchment are all selling, but not dominating. All the periods are selling, but not dominating," said Reinisch.
Metal and metallic accents are doing well for Howard Miller, The Platt Collections and Glober.
"We're finding that as far as finish, medium-toned woods with silver accents have done very well," said Larry Platt, president of The Platt Collections. Also, the company's in-house designers create unique, coordinating metal hardware.
Gold-tipped accents are successful for Howard Miller, while hand-painted details are gaining attention.
"We're in a very little niche. … Metal is all that we do," said John Glowacki, Glober vice president. Collectors cabinets make up about 90% of Glober's business. The most-popular models are those with an Italian-influenced, concave/convex glass fronts. The models come in 10 metal finishes with Platinum and Satin Chrome the top two.
Glober and Platt are doing well with cabinets that can stand alone or be bunched together to fill a space or even cover a wall. Platt has found its customers like the curios both in a living room setting or in a dining area in place of a traditional hutch and china.
Imported goods dominate some categories such as occasional furniture, but domestic operations prosper in this category.
Imports aren't really significant as a finished product, said Reinisch. "The freight alone defeats the labor and overhead savings." A company might stick a couple of curios in a container with 40 bedroom sets, but the bigger impact is in components and design.
Many case goods and occasional groups feature heavy carvings as manual labor is so much cheaper overseas. This look has caught on and had some impact on collectors cabinets, but it hasn't been dominant, according to Reinisch.
With so many styles selling well, widespread inventories are the heart of the business, Reinisch said. For his company, "The whole line is always in stock. None of our customers have to carry any inventory, and most don't."
Meeting consumers needs without a clear-cut style leader means putting extra effort into research and design. Pulaski has been so focused on some other categories that it needs to re-emphasize collectors cabinets, said Wilson. To that effect, Ernie Smoake has been named to the new position of product manager for curios.
"We're working toward what's the next hot thing going to be," said Wilson, and it is good to have someone spending 100% of his time just on this category.
Leick's focus for the upcoming High Point market involves correlated collections between curios and occasional tables.
Buhler is putting in a tremendous amount of work before the market ever starts, said Anderlum. The company is contacting buyers and letting them know what is planned for October. Right now, Buhler likely will introduce between six and 10 new cabinets.
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