Clint's Notes
Hello! I’m Clint Engel senior retail editor at Furniture/Today, where I cover all things retail. I’ll use this blog to offer my thoughts on both the furniture retail scene and general retail, but more importantly, as a vehicle to bring in and link to other ideas and sources of information that could prove useful to you. I hope you’ll use this space to share your thoughts, too. Also feel free to contact me directly at clinte@reedbusiness.com or 336-605-1129.
Gallery to keep customer/buyers focused on product and fun
Last week, we reported the exciting news about Houston-based Gallery Furniture’s plan to bring a group of consumer/buyers to High Point this week to seek out new product for its floors.One question we had: What if these consumers experience reverse sticker shock when they get here? Will they blog about it? Will they ever want to pay retail again? In an e-mail, Gallery’s Gil Velasquez ...... Read More
Comments (2)Three things retailers should do yesterday
Let’s jump right into it, and I should note that all three things cost little more than your time. Get online if you’re not already. Industry forces have now quashed all excuses not to have a Web site. For starters, there’s FurnitureDealer.net, which earlier this year started offering furniture retailers free Web sites through its new furnoodle service. At about the same time, ...... Read More
Comments (2)Only one change at Hudson's in Florida
I’m not absolutely sure this is true (or legal) but here’s something for our readers to chew on: Hudson’s of Sanford, Fla., has named Sampson Hudson chief financial officer. That would be owner and President Fred Hudson’s dog, and I’m getting this from the horse’s mouth. Rumors about the financial health of the Top 100 company have been circulating on and ...... Read More
Comments (0)Can we learn anything from Kroger?
Is there a lesson for the furniture industry in the recent gains grocery store chains are enjoying, thanks to their back-to-basics strategy? The Wall Street Journal reports that Kroger, Publix and other grocery stores are seeing added profits in the so-called center aisles — where they sell things like canned vegetables, cereal, pasta and flour — gaining back ground they previously c ...... Read More
Comments (2)A winning Paula Deen
Paula Deen’s furniture collection with Universal got a fun and funny plug on NPR’s “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me” quiz show this past Saturday. Deen was the guest contestant for a segment called “Not My Job,” in which celebrities typically are asked questions about something they’re not likely to have great interest in (Deen was asked abo ...... Read More
Comments (4)Costco bows out of furniture store business
In a press release about the planned closings this summer of the two Costco Home stores in Kirkland, Wash., and Tempe, Ariz., Costco CEO Jim Sinegal said the Home stores were a “valuable experiment” and that the company “learned a great deal about home furnishings in the process.” Apparently one of those lessons was that this furniture store business is a lot harder tha ...... Read More
Comments (9)What Ikea does right
It’s difficult to visit an Ikea store and not leave as a fan. It’s also difficult to leave without at least a little something in your hand (a cutting board for me and candy for, er … my daughter). Now that I’ve wiped away any attempt at objectivity, here’s my take on some of the things that make Ikea a success. I recently visited the new Charlotte, N.C., store o ...... Read More
Comments (4)Jake's take on employment
Last week during at the Las Vegas Market, we ran into American Furniture Warehouse CEO Jake Jabs (cornered him might be a better way of describing the meeting.) We asked him to elaborate a bit on a strategy he’s put in place to downsize in this terrible economy by cutting back hours vs. cutting too many jobs. Our quick video interview is up on our Web site along with other video reports fro ...... Read More
Comments (0)It pays to employ
An AP story this morning reports the economy shrank 3.8% in the fourth quarter, the worst downturn in 25 years. The Commerce Department “report provided clear evidence of the economy’s rapid deterioration as the housing, credit and financial crises — the worst since the 1930s — feed on each other. It’s a vicious cycle that has proven difficult for Washington poli ...... Read More
Comments (3)Is cheap chic?
Has the furniture industry lost its chance to get consumers off their low-price fixation and into thinking about the joys of a beautifully furnished home?A Reuters report this month suggests that the recession has led more people to list price as a top priority over location, quality and service. “What’s so intriguing these days, whether you work on Wall Street or in Wal-Mart, is tha ...... Read More
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