Home Line back at market with permanent showroom
By Ray Allegrezza -- Furniture Today, October 12, 2009
PHILADELPHIA — After a one-year hiatus, domestic manufacturer and importer Home Line Inds. is returning as an exhibitor at the High Point Market.
The Philadelphia-based company has secured a 12,000-square-foot freestanding showroom at 314 S. Main St.
“We are thrilled with this new location,” said Josh Block, Home Line's executive vice president. “In addition to being larger than our previous showroom, this building also provides us with 30 parking spaces for our retail customers.”
Block said Home Line will use the site as its permanent showroom and it intends to keep it open all year.
Retailers visiting the company at market will see more than 45 new items it is introducing in all of its categories. Price points range from promotional to medium.
“In upholstery alone, we plan to show 15 new groups in both leather and upholstery,” Block said. “We've also got about five new motion groups as well as lots of new additions to our already comprehensive case goods lineup.”
In case goods, he said, two of the big themes are innovative designs and ample storage options.
“The last thing the market needs is more 'me-too' furniture,” Block observed. “Instead, dealers are telling us they want fresh new looks to put on their floors.”
With that in mind, Home Line has come to this market armed with designs that in his words, “we've put our own spin on.” He credited many of the new looks to the company's recently beefed-up seven-person design team.
While the company, which sources globally, will continue to bring furniture from Asia, Block also is looking to Home Line's recently acquired upholstery facility in Asheboro, N.C., to fill the product pipeline. Based on incoming orders, the 219,000-square-foot facility, which employs 140 workers and ships goods to more than 50 key accounts, will add an additional 40 workers over the new few months.
“Lots of companies bill themselves as a one-stop shop, but we really are,” Block said. “Thanks to three warehouses — one each in Philadelphia, Asheboro and Chicago, you can order containers or one at a time and we still will give you factory-direct pricing,”
He also said Home Line's 97% in-stock rate also has helped it win favor with dealers, particularly mom-and-pop shops.
“Plus, we hold our own paper and provide our own financing, which makes us a pretty compelling supplier,” Block said.
Since many of Home Line's dealers tend to be independents, the company has an electronic initiative designed to support smaller dealers. “We recently launched a program whereby we build Web sites for retailers, putting them on a level playing field with larger competitors,” he said.
“And as for the literal icing on the cake,” he added, “we are providing our customers with a gourmet lunch all during market.”
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