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The missed opportunity in home entertainment

By Tom Edmonds -- Furniture Today, December 29, 2002

No life on store floors
Creating a destination

The day after Thanksgiving, the people shopped. And the traffic guy on the radio in one big city said the crowds were particularly impossible at Best Buy — not one Best Buy or another Best Buy but all the Best Buys.

This is the digital age, and people love electronics. Men want big TVs and surround-sound and everything else. We are now into our third generation of people whose primary cultural touchstone is television programming.

No life on store floors

Unfortunately for the furniture industry, as deeply as video has penetrated our lives, entertainment furniture is not nearly as appealing or as important to the North American consumer. Entertainment furniture is just another category in an industry that is looking for a spark, with few signs lately that entertainment furniture is prepared to do the trick.

Walk through a few stores, and it's not difficult to figure out why. Electronics stores pulse with energy, and though some furniture stores have piped in some lively music, the displays are inanimate. And the entertainment furniture may be among the most disappointing displays of all. Open up an entertainment armoire, and most times all you will see is an empty cavity. It is up to the consumer to imagine how that cabinet will work with her electronics.

Even in the electronics stores that carry TV stands and entertainment centers, the furniture sits quietly separate while the television displays are where the action is — sights and sounds and shoppers.

Although the furniture industry has tried in the past to grab onto some of that excitement with marketing alliances, fairly few stores — other than some specialty chains and regional powerhouses carrying both furniture and electronics — have successfully combined the categories.

Creating a destination

The list of winners in home entertainment furniture is made up of companies that have made a commitment to retail entertainment — Jordan's, R.C. Willey, Nebraska Furniture Mart and Benchmark, to name a few. Is it any surprise that three of these companies are owned by Berkshire Hathaway, and the fourth, Benchmark, is considered one of the industry's most original innovators?

These companies plug it in and turn it up. Their entertainment displays fairly crackle with energy, if for no other reason than they are outfitted with electronics.

We are not suggesting that success with home entertainment furniture is an indicator that Warren Buffett will soon be negotiating to be your partner. Truly, the category is still not all that important, representing a significant but small sales percentage for the full-line stores that do merchandise it enthusiastically.

However, simply because these vignettes can be accessorized with televisions, home theater and home entertainment represent an opportunity for furniture stores to inject some of the excitement that is so apparent at Best Buy.

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