Premarket pre-empted
Attacks cast pall on hope for upturn
By David Perry and Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, September 17, 2001
HIGH POINT — HIGH POINT — The terrorist attacks last week cast a pall over premarket and, more importantly, over prospects for economic recovery.
"Who will go out in the next few weeks and buy a sofa?" said Gerald Birnbach, chairman of The Rowe Companies. "It's like when Kennedy died. Everyone will be in a malaise."
"The consumer is going to take a pause," said Keith Feuerhaken, vice president of sales at Flexsteel. "This is a body blow to the recovery. The impact probably will be less by October, but it will stop the momentum from Labor Day."
La-Z-Boy Chairman Pat Norton said he isn't sure what effect the attacks will have on the industry's economic fortunes. He predicted the "financial markets and commodity markets will be in disarray for some time," but he didn't believe consumers would stop all spending. "I think the American consumer will still do certain things she wants to do," he said.
Those executives offered their assessments on a day that no one will ever forget.
Jerry Epperson, an analyst with Mann, Armistead & Epperson, was in New York City Tuesday and saw the smoke from the rubble of the World Trade Center, where he had meetings scheduled the next day (see his column at right).
"Consumers will have something else on their minds for a while," he said.
The attacks in New York and Washington and the shutting down of the U.S. air travel system combined to play havoc with premarket in High Point, effectively bringing the unofficial event to an end last Tuesday.
Business went on in many showrooms, but the buying and selling of furniture suddenly seemed much less important.
"Nobody is in a mood to be thinking about this stuff," said Norton, who was talking about driving back to Monroe, Mich. Driving home was the main option marketgoers were talking about on Tuesday, with no definite word on when air travel would resume.
Feuerhaken left Tuesday afternoon on a drive to Chicago, and from there to Flexsteel headquarters in Dubuque, Iowa.
The scene at rental car counters at the Piedmont Triad International Airport was chaotic, he said. "Everybody was getting rental cars at the airport," he said. "It was a zoo out there."
The mood in many showrooms was somber. People hovered around televisions, shocked by the images they were seeing.
"America will never be the same," Norton said, reflecting a view voiced by many. "We have integrated a fear into our psyche that we've never had to live with. We didn't use to live in fear. It's a fearful thing now. You'll be looking at every guy who gets on an airplane to see if he is a terrorist."
At PeopLoungers, a company representative was on the phone Tuesday morning, trying to rent a car to get home to the West Coast. "Is that a small truck?" he asked, then, "How about a van?" He was successful, and left to begin the long drive. "I've got a lot of stuff going on," he said.
Jerry Marlin, executive vice president of merchandising at PeopLoungers, said it was difficult to preview product when people were in such a bewildered and somber mood. "I've had people tell me, 'No, I don't want to do business today'," he said.
Tuesday's terror took him back to January 1986, when the spaceship Challenger exploded 74 seconds after launch with teacher Christa McAuliffe aboard. "I remember exactly what I was doing," said Marlin at his showroom in the National Furniture Mart. "I was at the Sterchi's store in Charlotte. I was supposed to be working, but when that happened, we just stopped and watched TV."
Throughout the market, people were extending their car rentals and preparing to drive home. Chuck Tidwell, product manager for Franklin in Hudson, Miss., was part of a group planning to drive to the Memphis airport to pick up their own cars for the final leg home.
At BenchCraft's showroom, company representatives and dealers alike gathered near a radio at the reception desk as first word of the attacks came in. They were stunned and silent as reports of the devastation mounted.
"We're in shock," said Ed Tashjian, director of marketing for Century. He said the son of Bill Hayes, Century's senior vice president of home furnishings, works a block away from the World Trade Center. It turned out he was safe.
Dino Lorusso, president of Natuzzi Americas, said, "People have told us they can't focus. They can't concentrate. They have asked us to come and see them at a later time."
The tragedy virtually wiped out Wednesday at premarket.
"I'm not coming in Wednesday," said Randy Austin, president of Hickory White. "I have some appointments, but I doubt if they'll be here."
At Kincaid, "people tended to go back and watch our television," said Jack DeBonis, vice president of marketing. "As the magnitude of what happened sank in, it was hard to focus on business."
Gerry Cockerill, director of export sales and marketing for Canadian case goods resource T&J Furniture, said, "I would be less than honest if I said (premarket) was good. It was like the October 1987 stock market crash — everyone hunkered down to watch what was going on, then left. Premarket is supposed to be a three-day event, but we only had one day."
Case Goods Editor Powell Slaughter, Leather Editor Joan Gunin and Canadian Correspondent Michael Knell contributed to this story.
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| This departure board, top, at Piedmont Triad International Airport tells the story Wednesday of flights canceled, stranding premarket attendees. Above, marketgoers watch news of Tuesday's terrorist attacks in the Commerce lobby of the International Home Furnishings Center. |
