It’s kind of like the hermit who sits sentry, protecting his front door, shotgun on his lap, guarding against an intrusion by robbers intent on stealing his belongings, while the interlopers come in the back door and take all of his possessions. 

Forgive the allegory, but sometimes it’s how it feels. The reality is, as blasphemous as it sounds, that no one absolutely needs furniture. Furniture is clearly not a necessity of life. People need air, food, water, clothing, a place to sleep but not furniture. As furniture marketers at both the supplier and retail levels should recognize, furniture buying is way down on the list. A sofa is most definitely not requisite for life itself on this earth and let us not delude ourselves that it is.

Especially in today’s unsure economic environment, consumers must make their mortgage payments, pay...Read More

Furniture/Today Senior Retail Editor, Clint Engel interviewed random retail buyers at the Las Vegas Furniture Market on camera. The footage was shown on the F/T web site during February and as of this writing until today. (click here to see video)

One of the questions he asked of the interviewees was whether the Economic Stimulus Package passed in Washington would help the furniture business. I found the answers interesting. Nearly all gave responses ranging from a semi-positive, “I hope so” to a negative, “I don’t think so.”

My interest peaked because it occurred to me that sometimes we don’t see a gift when it’s presented to us. In my book, Furniture Retailing 101, I hammer home ...Read More