Entertainment is hot ticket in RTA
By Tom Edmonds -- Furniture Today, April 14, 2002
HIGH POINT — Entertainment is the hot ticket for flat-pack furniture makers these days, and introductions at this market will skew toward this expanding category.
Perhaps as a result of a rise in home-based activities, home entertainment furnishings have been solidly outpacing the home office category in recent months, according to Sauder Woodworking.
"Today's Americans are drawn to the comfort of the familiar, giving traditional designs a stronger appeal than ever," says Susan Dountas, vice president of merchandising for Sauder Woodworking. "At the same time, consumers are seeking furnishings attuned to modern technology so they can easily connect to the wider world for recreation as well as for work."
Sauder and several other RTA furniture makers are hitting the entertainment category with a broad menu of introductions, the result of the changing shape of televisions and other electronic components.
Dountas noted that sales of home theater components, large-scale TVs and other electronic fun-and-games equipment are on the rise. Citing market research firm Odyssey, she said 25% of American households have a home theater, 37% have a 30-inch or larger television screen, and 30% now own a DVD player.
Sauder's debut Willow Falls introduction focuses on high-tech gear for the home with eight home entertainment designs to be unveiled this market. The new group boasts comfortable traditional styling with such hearth-warming details as an American Cherry finish in mellow tones, solid-wood molding with a rope motif and an embossed basket weave pattern for a soft, reassuring effect.
The Willow Falls group also displays a dash of sophisticated eclecticism with different types of hardware and varied leg treatments that establish an easy-going sense of style and eschew an overly coordinated look.
Willow Falls plugs into America's at-home entertainment trend with three entertainment centers, a home theater, an entertainment armoire, a universal stand and an audio pier, all geared to modern electronic components. The majority of the new pieces feature a 38- to 39-inch opening designed to accommodate today's increasingly popular large-screen televisions, the key ingredient for home theaters.
The new designs also feature large "media drawers" to accommodate DVDs, CDs, oversized tapes and computer games. The collection's versatile audio piers can stand on either side of a large projection television or stand alone as separate storage and display units.
Entertainment is the big focus for Bush Furniture, too. The need for more styles and shapes in the entertainment category is readily apparent when you stroll through an electronics store, said Greg Bush, president of Bush Furniture.
"The one thing that's obvious is that TVs have changed dramatically in size and color," Bush said. "With the diversity in televisions these days, we think this is a great time to develop some product to support that."
Bush will have five new entertainment collections with retails from $99 to $499 per piece.
Besides adding more configurations to their entertainment programs, furniture makers are also adding more style variety. Gusdorf, for instance, has expanded its MetalWorks program with projection-television entertainment center that employs tubular steel and wood. Other units have glass and metal, but they all retail in the $149 to $399 range.
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