Sources jazz up metal beds
Metal beds more attractive through new looks and merchandising strategies
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, October 4, 2007
AT THE MARKET — Iron and metal bed vendors here aren’t letting a tough retail climate stall their efforts to revitalize the category. From the low to the high end, many resources are offering new looks and merchandising strategies aimed at making metal beds more attractive to dealers shopping here this week. Iron beds design leader and manufacturer Wesley Allen has 11 new models this market, and seven new, mostly textured finishes. Among the top performers with retailers are the traditional Sparta bed, a $2,200 retail iron bed with an upholstered head and footboard, and classic Greek-inspired design elements. Another hit among Wesley Allen’s introductions is the New Orleans upholstered bed, which retails for $2,000. In the works for three years, it draws inspiration from the scroll work and patterns seen on balconies in the French Quarter of its namesake city. These and other new models come in 42 finishes, including the seven new ones. Canadian metal bed manufacturer Amisco is seeing strong interest in and order-writing on three new contemporary designs: the $599 retail Delaney bed, the $599 Graham bed and the $449 Theodore bed. These transitional/contemporary pieces are available in 10 finishes and ship in six to 10 days from the company’s domestic warehouse. These and other metal beds also have finishes that tie in with various case goods and floor and wall mirrors in Amisco’s line. The Graham bed even has a wood extension on top of the head and footboard that matches the finish on the companion dresser and nightstand. Fashion Bed Group doesn’t have any new metal beds this market. But it has turned three contemporary Asian fusion-inspired styles into platform models. These include the $399 retail Brooklyn and Fulton models and the $299 Plaza model. Hooker Furniture is having success with its two metal bed introductions, including a transitional-style model in an aged brass finish that is being merchandised with its new line of hand-painted Westcott accent drawer chests. The presentation is popular with dealers largely because the finish on the bed complements the new case pieces. Largo has two new beds, and has added decorative side rails to an existing model. The most popular of the new models is the Charleston, a sleigh bed with thin vertical slats and matching head and footboard shaping. Available in an old iron powder-coated finish, and also with decorative side rails, the bed retails for $399. The second new Largo bed, also generating dealer interest and orders, is the Gypsy, at $299 retail, with medallion-shaped castings and twisted iron spindles and scrollwork on both the head and footboard. It comes in an old bronze finish. “We’re finding the metal bed business to be very good,” said Vernon Piehl, Largo’s vice president of sales and marketing for case goods. “It is a growing category.” He added that Sunday and Tuesday were the company’s strongest days so far this market. Wesley Allen saw a drop in traffic during the first three days of market, but is pleased with the response its new beds are getting from those that have come by. For that reason, it believes its design and marketing efforts are paying off. “It’s not the best of times in the furniture industry,” said President Victor Sawan. “In such times, you have to give dealers reasons to buy. You have to innovate more and provide better designs.”
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