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I know this blog is self-serving. I know my main goal is to sell my books, or at least it is one of my main goals. But I can’t help remembering the year 1975, when I was first introduced to the furniture industry. 

My brain was awash with confusion. I did not understand enough about the industry to comprehend the answers to the mysteries of the business. I didn’t even know enough to identify the questions to ask because I didn’t know what I didn’t know. It took years to get it. But slowly, after asking countless questions of my boss, reading the trades, having what seemed to be thousands of conversations with people I believed were in the know, I began to grasp the intricacies.

Even the language of the business seemed foreign. I remember someone asking me what I thought of the “casegoods” selection. I thought, &ldqu...Read More

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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

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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

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Sometimes it doesn't pay to know too much. 

Experience is a great teacher because it results in knowledge that has been lived. But, sometimes this knowledge may be ingrained so tightly, that it excludes other knowledge that may be contradictory, but no less true. 

Let me offer an example: A nightstand is a small piece of furniture, with or without doors and drawers, normally placed beside the head of a bed. It provides a surface to set a lamp or place a glass of water, a book, or pair of reading glasses. BUT…a nightstand might not be a nightstand at all. It may, in fact, be a chairside commode. It also may be a telephone table or a stand for a small 20” TV set. 

A china cabinet isn't necessarily a china cabinet. Indeed, it might be a large curio cabinet or collector’s curio. A large love seat might be an &ls...Read More