Broad range scores in youth
By Lisa Casinger -- Furniture Today, April 23, 2007
High Point — Vendors served up a broad menu of youth during the High Point Market last month, offering everything from modern looks for tweens and teens to a nod to would-be pirates.
Canyon, which is owned by Top 100 store Rooms To Go, opened up distribution of four licensed Disney lines, including Winnie the Pooh, Cars, Pirates of the Caribbean and The Princess collection. It's also offering four other RTG top sellers, including a merlot contemporary group, a Mission group and a baseball-themed bed.
Opus Designs, meanwhile, is moving into contemporary looks, but the bigger news is the company added bunk beds to existing collections.
"Customers were asking for bunk beds, so we brought them out in all groups," said James Millner, president of product design and development.
Millner was particularly pleased with the early reception of the new contemporary collections — Counterpoint, in a light finish, and Aura, with a dark finish.
Stanley's Young America and Vaughan Furniture also unveiled more contemporary groups targeted to older kids.
"This is good look for the tween/teen market," Chairman and CEO Bill Vaughan said of Vaughan's Simply Living collection, which is made of birch solids and mahogany veneers and available in cinnamon and ebony finishes.
Powell moved all of its youth collections to the first floor of its sprawling showroom in the National Furniture Mart, a prominent position indicating the company's growing commitment to the category. Debuts included Cameron, a camouflage-themed metal group; Baubles, a girls' metal group with pastel circle accents; and Shiver Me Timbers, a 12-piece collection featuring a boat-shaped bunk bed, rope details and peg-leg posts on desks and chairs,.
Lea Inds. launched several new groups at market, including Free Time and Hangtime, which drew a strong response from retailers,
"We did a lot of research for this collection," said Earl Wang, vice president of product development. "We visited stores like Hollister and Urban Outfitters to tap into the emotional aspect of the product. This is the group for 12-year-olds that want to be 16-year-olds. It's fun, athletic, outdoors."
Free Time, in a white finish, and Hangtime, in a warm khaki finish, are loaded with features like iPod docking stations on the beds, built-in speaker grills that can be switched out with wood panels, pier units that can be configured in myriad ways for storage, entertainment or display, and asymmetrical, fresh looks on case pieces and mirrors.
Other Lea introductions included three domestic groups — Morning Glory, Savannah and Grand Junction; and a sweet, classic girls' group, Sophie.
Lea also rolled out a good, better, best option in its La-Z-Boy Kidz bedding program, with pillow packs retailing at $79, bed ensembles from $149 to $199, fleece comforters at $59 and bedspreads at $39.
