Single-source networks post 12.3% increase
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, May 22, 2005
High Point — Ashley Furniture HomeStores — with a big assist from Drexel Heritage and Select Comfort — carried the nine single-source store networks to the best overall sales performance of any subcategory in the Top 100 for the second consecutive year.
The single-source networks, which include manufacturer-dedicated stores regardless of ownerships as well as Norwalk — The Furniture Idea franchise and the vertically integrated Select Comfort, grew 12.3% to sales of $5.0 billion last year for a 10% share of all U.S. furniture store sales.
Just like last year, the phenomenon that is No. 8 Ashley Furniture HomeStores carried most of the weight with a gain of 52.2% to $913 million — well on its way to becoming a billion-dollar network this year.
Ashley's percentage gain as well as net volume gain ($313 million) was not only the best for any single-source network, but also the best for any Top 100 retailer. Through a mix of independent dealers — including some other Top 100 players — Ashley also opened more stores last year (32) than any of the other dedicated store networks on the list.
Though much smaller, Furniture Brand International's Drexel Heritage store network, No. 47 on the Top 100, grew a healthy 21.4% last year for total sales estimated at $153 million. The only other double-digit gain came from air bed specialist No. 14 Select Comfort, which grew 19.6% to $525.3 million (excluding sales through its wholesale channels, which includes the QVC shopping channel and other home furnishing retailers, where it continued to grow its business).
The combined single-source group also benefited from the addition of No. 37 America's Mattress, the Serta-only network of independently owned sleep shops that did an estimated $195 million in sales at 390 stores last year. An estimate for 2003 results was unavailable, so America's Mattress' sales and store count were assumed flat for the purposes of this report.
Still, the double-digit gains from three of the networks, and the addition of America's Mattress, helped the single-source stores to a 19% share of all Top 100 sales, up from a 17% share for the eight companies on last year's list.
No. 3 Ethan Allen, the oldest dedicated store network, kept the title of the largest network, too, with total sales of $1.17 billion, up 3.1% from a year ago.
The only store network to post a decline in sales last year was No. 69 Norwalk — The Furniture Idea, which fell nearly 7% to $95.9 million and dropped its store count by one unit. Norwalk's retail network is looking for a rebound this year, through the opening of a net six new stores for a total of 70 by the end of the year.
Perhaps owing to the increasing popularity of dedicated store networks among independent retailers, Norwalk and Ethan Allen were the only networks to drop stores from their overall counts last year— and each declined by only one unit. Ashley, Select Comfort, No. 16 Thomasville Home Furnishings and No. 21 Bassett Furniture Direct each grew their store counts by double digits.
| Top single-source store networks | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranked by sales of furniture, bedding and accessories | ||||||
| ESTIMATED FURNITURE, BEDDING, ACCESSORY SALES IN $ MILLIONS | PERCENT CHANGE | NUMBER OF UNITS | ||||
| RANK | COMPANY | 2004 | 2003 | 2003 TO 2004 | 2004 | 2003 |
| Source: Furniture/Today's Survey of Top 100 U.S. Furniture Stores |
||||||
| 3 | Ethan Allen | $1,171.0 | $1,135.7 | 3.1% | 282 | 283 |
| 6 | La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries | $1,068.7 | $1,019.7 | 4.8% | 304 | 302 |
| 8 | Ashley Furniture HomeStores | $913.0 | $600.0 | 52.2% | 153 | 121 |
| 14 | Select Comfort | $525.3 | $439.2 | 19.6% | 370 | 344 |
| 16 | Thomasville Home Furnishings Stores | $500.1 | $467.0 | 7.1% | 144 | 131 |
| 21 | Bassett Furniture Direct | $378.0 | $368.7 | 2.5% | 116 | 101 |
| 37 | America's Mattress | $195.0 | NA | NA | 390 | NA |
| 47 | Drexel Heritage | $153.0 | $126.0 | 21.4% | 40 | 32 |
| 69 | Norwalk - The Furniture Idea | $95.9 | $103.0 | -6.9% | 64 | 65 |
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