Century a key supplier to China retailer Alexandre
By Heath E. Combs -- Furniture Today, January 27, 2008
Shenzhen, China — In early December, Century Furniture officials and local dignitaries here were greeted with pyrotechnics and pomp to open a new store of luxury furniture retailer Alexandre.
North Carolina-based Century is a key supplier to the 70,000-square-foot store, with its products taking up two thirds of the display space.
Inside, with elegance befitting an upscale hotel, the store has full-sized palm trees, tall ceilings, an enormous crystal chandelier, a round Tiffany stained glass window and high-end marble and hardwood floors.
It is the second Alexandre store in the region, following a showroom that opened in June in Taichung, Taiwan. The stores represent a move into retail by Eddie Hsiao, the owner and principle of China-based manufacturer Alexandre Elite Life, or Southern Arts Furniture.
Hsiao's company has been an OEM supplier to Century for about seven years, producing the company's Destinations case goods line and its Marisol and Castellan Collections. That relationship led to Century's role as a key supplier to the Alexandre stores.
Most of the Century product sold in the Alexandre stores sell is made in Hickory, N.C.
"We still buy some product from them. Along the way we developed a great relationship. He (Hsiao) looked and saw that there may be greater opportunity in selling furniture in Asia long-term than just being a manufacturer," Century Furniture CEO Bob Maricich said.
Century officials said the first two stores have generated written orders of $2.6 million so far.
Hsiao plans to open seven company-owned stores (including planned units in Taipei, Taiwan, and Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou and Shenzhou, China) plus another 13 franchise stores in the coming year.
"Eddie Hsiao has the imagination, energy, and drive to pioneer the luxury furniture market in China," Maricich said.
Maricich sees an emerging demand for luxury goods in the fast-growing Asian economies. In Shenzhen, a city of about nine million, the Alexandre store is near a Ritz-Carlton, a new Sheraton, a convention center and luxury condo project.
In addition to serving as an exclusive vendor, Century also is helping Alexandre design its retail floors and is providing its employees with merchandise and sales training.
"A lot of other retailers just don't do it right," said Maricich. But at the Alexandre stores, he said, "It's done in really a luxury format in all regards — kiosks, point of purchase. The luxury layout of the stores is fitted wonderfully. You walk in and it makes you go, 'Wow!'"
In Shenzhen, the first two of Alexandre's three floors display Century furniture, including its Highland House and Monarch brands. A restaurant is on the third floor, where offices and Eastern Accents accessory displays are located. The stores also carry product from Hsaio's factories.
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