Home theater attracts crowds
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, December 29, 2002
Driven by the move to larger screens and multiple components, home theater configurations are attracting the biggest crowds for entertainment furniture, according to several producers.
"The trend that we're riding right now is that the video electronics industry has something new that's better, and they're creating a good argument that you should go out and buy it," said Jeff Grubb, president of Orman Grubb. "People come home and they realize they don't have anything they could possibly put that thing on because it weighs about six million pounds, and it's too big. So they go shopping for furniture."
While screen sizes and shapes are certainly changing, the new monitors aren't so radically different that producers have to adjust their furniture dimensions every time a model proves popular.
"We're certainly seeing the letterbox screens appearing more at Circuit City and Best Buy," said Hank Long, senior vice president for Hooker Furniture. "Interestingly, these new TVs still fit in most of the units we've been selling."
While some of the new units, 38 inches with side speakers, for instance, require specialized cabinets, Long said the most popular models can still be accommodated by Hooker cabinets.
And of course, finding furniture that fits is a big concern for the consumer: "We get a lot of calls at our consumer help desk from people who want to know if we have something that will fit their set," said Long.
Furniture makers say they just can't afford to respond to every new television size. "At some of the electronics shows, they're showing all this pie-in-the-sky stuff, but a lot of it never makes it to the marketplace for a lot of the same reasons that a lot of furniture never makes it to the marketplace," Long said.
Grubb stays current by monitoring the circulars in the Sunday paper. "What you've got to do is watch what Best Buy is advertising. That's an indicator of what's finding its way into people's homes."
Advertising for the new generation of flat plasma screens, so far, has been aimed at tech-savvy "early adopters," but furniture producers see this product's appeal expanding to the mainstream in a few years' time.
"This is an area where we can't be neglectful of the more traditional buyers out there," said Henry Klassen, product manager for Palliser. "Today, that's a hip consumer going for that type of technology, but the traditional consumer will be in the market for this in just a few years.
"As we move forward, it isn't going to be all about hip. It may start there, but moving forward I think we'll see some good mainstream style solutions as well."
Hooker's Long agreed, saying that cabinetry is not going to be a casualty of plasma televisions. "Everybody says what are you going to do when somebody hangs this on the wall?" he said. "When that happens, people are going to have all the other accessories to go with the television, and the wife will still want to hide it. The cabinets will still have a market."
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