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Furniture|Today > Archives > 03/29/2004 Issue
Table of Contents
Furniture|Today -- 03/29/2004

Bedding Today
  • Specialty sleep category won't sink like waterbeds
    Sealy's announcement last week that it is developing new specialty sleep products is the latest evidence the specialty sleep category remains in a growth mode. Sealy revealed, in response to questions from Furniture/ Today, that it is developing "alternative product offerings and designs for launch in 2004.

Business Today
  • Hudson's Bay 4Q revenue flat; profit down 14.8%
    TORONTO — Hudson's Bay Co., parent of department store The Bay, said revenues in its fourth quarter totaled C$2.5 billion, essentially flat with the prior year's period. Net income was C$89.6 million, down 14.8% from C$105.1 million in last year's final quarter. For the year ended Jan. 31, revenues were C$7.
  • Financial results
    Earnings per share are fully diluted, and all figures in parentheses are losses or declines.
  • Simmons '03 sales up 13.8%
    ATLANTA — Aided by additional retail floor placements and improved sales of higher-priced products, bedding major Simmons said sales jumped 13.8% in 2003. The company, which was acquired in December by affiliates of Thomas H. Lee Partners for $1.1 billion, reported brisk sales of both its Beautyrest and BackCare lines.
  • Sleep Country 4Q revenue up 10.2%
    TORONTO — Sleep Country Income Fund, parent of bedding retail chain Sleep Country Canada, reported fourth-quarter revenue rose 10.2% over last year's final period, with earnings before income taxes, depreciation and amortization surging 28.9% to C$6.5 million. SCIF did not report sales figures for the fourth quarters, although it said same-store sales increased 3.

News
  • Therapedic Int. salutes Australian licensee
    MIDDLESEX , N.J.— Therapedic Queensland has been named the 2002 winner of the annual Richard W. Glaubinger Memorial Award. The award is given to the individual Therapedic factory member who, in a given year, does the most to advance Therapedic worldwide. The award was named for Richard W. Glaubinger, the first president of Therapedic International, who served the group for more than 35 ye...
  • Bedding Benchmarks
    Bedding newsmaker: Charlie Eitel
    What is the greatest issue facing the bedding industry? Sales training — both at wholesale and retail. If you could change one thing in the bedding industry, what would it be? For other manufacturers to design their own products and quit trying to knock us off. What has been the biggest change you've seen in the bedding industry in the past year? (1) Simmons, Tempur-Pedic and Select Co...
  • S.C. names Comfortaire to fastest-growing ranking
    GREENVILLE, S.C. — Comfortaire Corp. was recently given an Award of Excellence in South Carolina's Fastest Growing Companies 2003, an exclusive ranking co-sponsored by Elliott Davis, the largest CPA firm headquartered in South Carolina, and the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce. "We are honored to be recognized as a member of this exclusive group of companies," said David Karr, president...
  • Sealy among 'most admired'
    TRINITY, N.C. — For the second year in a row, Sealy has been named among America's Most Admired Companies by Fortune magazine. It is the only bedding manufacturer to make the list. The Fortune list was generated with the help of The Hay Group, an independent global human resources consulting firm.
  • Ambrose earns MBA
    GREENSBORO, N.C. — Bob Ambrose, vice president/general manager for Spring Air Greensboro, has earned a master's degree in business administration from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He received his bachelor's degree from Old Dominion University in 1974. Prior to joining Spring Air, Ambrose held sales and manufacturing positions with King Koil-Norfolk, Va.
  • Shifman honors three retailers
    NEWARK, N.J. — Three retailers were honored during Shifman Mattress Co.'s annual New Product Presentation in November. The retailers were recognized for their volume increase for the 12-month period of November 2002 through October 2003. Valley Furniture Shop in Watchung and Hawthorne, N.J., was presented the Platinum Achievement Award.
  • United left U.S. before acquisition
    COQUITLAM, British Columbia — United Furniture Warehouse quietly exited the U.S. market in the months leading up to the promotional chain's acquisition by The Brick Warehouse Corp. In the wake of the newly announced deal, UFW's former president, John Volken, plans a new chain of stores that will generate profits for a charitable foundation.
  • Nicoletti promotes Tucci to new U.S. sales post
    MATERA, Italy — Gianni Tucci has been promoted to U.S. sales manager for leather upholstery manufacturer Sofa Art by Giuseppe Nicoletti. Tucci, who joined Nicoletti five years ago, was sales manager for Scandinavia and The Netherlands. In his U.S. role, he is responsible for major independent customers and key accounts.
  • DWR plans to go public
    SAN FRANCISCO — Design Within Reach, the multichannel retailer of modern design, is going public and plans to expand. The company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week for an initial public offering of common stock, to be sold by Design Within Reach and certain stockholders.
  • Obituaries
    William Griffith, veteran L&P rep
    FRESNO, Calif. — William "Bill" Griffith, a longtime sales representative in central California for Leggett & Platt's Consumer Products Unit, has died. He was 76. Griffith began his career in the furniture industry as a semi-pro basketball player. He played for an industrial team sponsored by the Howell Corp.
  • Interline Italia launches galleries in 3 Cardi's stores
    JAMESTOWN, N.C. — Leather upholstery resource Interline Italia has launched three Spaziogetto galleries in Cardi's Furniture stores. Spaziogetto ("space of items") galleries have opened at Cardi's units in Swansea, Mass., Attleboro, Mass., and Warwick, R.I. "We are pleased to have been able to open our first test galleries with an organization of the caliber of Cardi's," said Johne Alb...
  • Leather Italia opens Calif. warehouse
    WILMINGTON, N.C. — Leather upholstery source Leather Italia USA has opened a West Coast warehouse in Santa Fe Springs, Calif. The new 160,000-square-foot facility will be used to distribute imported leather upholstery to Western dealers. The company also operates a 260,000-square-foot facility in Wilmington.
  • Textile research conference set for May 16-18
    RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.— The Southern Textile Research Conference will hold its annual conference May 16-18 in Pawley's Island, S.C. The theme will be "Progress Through Fundamentals" and topics of presentations and discussions will include flammability standards, nanotechnology and the impact of politics on the U.
  • Furniture First wakes up to bedding
    HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla. — Bedding was topic No. 1 at the annual Furniture First symposium here. With more than 100 buying group members in attendance, the meeting covered every conceivable management issue connected with this key profit category. Successful members served as case studies, and a number of consultants and suppliers talked about strategies for maximizing the bedding opport...
  • Furniture First: Sharing ideas
    HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla. — The three-day Furniture First symposium here focused primarily on bedding as a profit opportunity. Here's a sampling of ideas presented at the buying group's meeting: Discussions weren't limited to bedding. Keynote speaker Bob Langdon recommended dealers apply the 80-20 rule to expense management.
  • N.Y., Mich. dealers win contest
    HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla.— In a One Best Idea contest, Furniture First retailers shared money-saving or profit-generating innovations that have helped their businesses. The winners:
  • 300 exhibitors set for Copenhagen show
    COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Some 300 exhibitors representing 16 countries are expected at this year's Scandinavian Furniture Fair, set for May 12-16 at Copenhagen's Bella Center. Denmark's largest furniture event, the show follows a better-than-expected 2003 for Danish furniture exports. According to the Assn.
  • Montage offering retailers protection plan guarantee
    ROSEVILLE, Minn. — Montage Furniture Services, a new player in fabric and wood protection plans, is offering retailers a written guarantee that will compensate dealers if the company's service fails to meet standards. Industry veterans Alan Salmon, former business director of Guardsman, and John Rose, former sales and training director for StainSafe, have joined with service provider Mont...
  • Stanley taps Sitler for operations post
    STANLEYTOWN, Va. — Stanley Furniture has promoted Bob Sitler to senior vice president of operations. Sitler, most recently vice president of manufacturing services, will provide direction for all domestic manufacturing, global sourcing and engineering. He reports to Jeff Scheffer, president and CEO of the case goods manufacturer and importer based here.
  • ASTM meeting to discuss voluntary leather standards
    WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. — The ASTM International committee on residential upholstery leather will hold its semiannual meeting in Wyndmoor, Pa., on April 29-30. ASTM International, formerly the American Society for Testing and Materials, is a global forum for the development of voluntary consensus standards for materials, products, systems and services.
  • New CEO to lead Wickes
    BOCA RATON, Fla. — Sun Capital Partners has completed its acquisition of Rooms To Go's nearly 50% stake in Wickes Furniture and said it is moving forward with aggressive expansion plans. Howard Slavin will step down as Wickes president and CEO and will join Rooms To Go in a merchandising post. Sun Capital has named John Disa, with 20 years of non-furniture retail experience, to replace him.
  • Wood intros play it safe
    HIGH POINT — Hoping to have plenty of consumer-friendly product ready for a rebound at retail, case goods manufacturers stuck to relatively safe style directions in introductions at premarket here last week, and kept the accent on service. Many companies offered fewer SKUs than usual. Traditional collections are mirroring a trend from last October with variations on 19th century architect...
  • Quaker names fabric veteran to head European sales office
    FALL RIVER, Mass. — Quaker Fabric has named Markus Mueller, a 14-year European fabric market veteran, as its exclusive sales agent in Europe. He will manage Quaker's new sales office and fabric showroom in Wuppertal, Germany. Quaker President and CEO Larry Liebenow said the new office "will provide Quaker with outstanding access to Dusseldorf, the fashion capital of Germany, to Cologne an...

Opinion Today
  • All is uncomfortably quiet on Canadian front
    My crystal ball doesn't seem to be working very well these days. People from all over Canada and from every part of the industry are always asking me about what's going on out there and what the rest of the year looks like for the Canadian furniture industry. From where I sit, the picture is still murky.

People Today
  • People on the Move
    People on the Move
    DESIGN COORDINATOR Valdese Weavers VALDESE , N.C. —Jennifer Franklin has joined upholstery fabric supplier Valdese Weavers as senior design coordinator. She will focus on new product development for furniture applications. She previously was director of design at Mastercraft Fabrics. In her new post, Franklin reports to Maida Cameron, design director.
  • Flexsteel taps Rhomberg for N. Central sales post
    DUBUQUE, Iowa — Upholstery maker Flexsteel has named Roger Rhomberg as North Central sales manager. He was key accounts sales representative, and product manager for the company's fast-growing occasional table line. In his new post, he will be responsible for residential furniture sales in 11 states, and 17 sales territories within those states.

Special Report
  • Style Survey
    Casual contemporary rules in 2004 case goods style survey
    HIGH POINT— Look up contemporary in a thesaurus, and you see its synonyms include modern, current, up-to-date and fresh. Those meanings may explain why contemporary has dominated case goods sales in recent years. There's no doubt that contemporary's chameleon-like ability to constantly reinvent itself contributes to its sales success.
  • Style Survey
    About the wood style survey
    HIGH POINT — The first installment in Furniture/Today's exclusive, two-part report focusing on style trends at the retail level, this issue's report covers case goods style trends. The second report, covering upholstery style trends, will appear in the Nov. 8 issue. Furniture retailers operating more than 540 stores answered Furniture/Today's biennial survey on style trends in case good...
  • Retail Report
    American builds a city
    ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — American Furniture Warehouse christened an 84,000-square-foot expansion to its retail showroom and warehouse center here this month, pushing total retail space at the location to nearly 200,000 square feet. A new second floor features a faux city park, replete with 23-foot-wide reflecting pool and fountain, downtown Denver loft-style brick walls, acid-washed floors, a f...
  • Color in motion
    HIGH POINT — Motion furniture is no longer a brown-and-white world. Color is here to stay. Whether it's a periwinkle reclining sofa or a burgundy recliner or a charcoal blue motion sectional, it's clear that the days of domination by beige and brown are over. "People want something that really has some pop," said Cabot Longnecker, vice president of merchandising for recliners at Berkline.
  • Retail Report
    New store planned in the north
    ENGLEWOOD, Colo.— A new American Furniture Warehouse store is planned north of Denver about halfway between Denver and Fort Collins. It would become the chain's tenth Colorado location. American has made an offer on 100 acres, which would provide ample real estate for another 100,000 square feet of retail, a prototype size the company likes for its stores, and another 400,000 square feet ...
  • Premarket Report
    Case goods action brisk
    HIGH POINT — Case goods producers got a good jump last week on the April market, showing full lines and planning early deliveries. Instead of using premarket mainly to get a feel for what buyers want, more companies than ever had showrooms packed with product and ready to sell. And they saw more buyers than usual and wrote more orders.
  • Premarket Report
    Upholstery tilts toward formal
    HIGH POINT — Stationary upholstery makers will ease away from the contemporary of the past several markets and turn a little more toward formal looks this April with damasks, tapestries and lush, dressy prints, judging by what they showed last week at premarket. Color clearly is still in the forefront, but not so much in limes, tangerines and other bright colors as in subdued reds, new gr...

Store Openings
  • Parlin's opens Dick Idol gallery
    BATTLE CREEK, Mich. —Parlin's Furniture has opened a 900-square-foot Dick Idol gallery in its 18,000-square-foot store here. The family-owned and operated store is in its 27th year of operation. The gallery features the Dick Idol Home Collection from Klaussner Furniture. The licensed lifestyle collection, inspired by the Montana outdoorsman and artist, includes upholstery, leather, be...
  • England has 5th dedicated store
    AKRON, Ohio — Upholstery maker England has opened its fifth dedicated store at the Summit Mall here. The 10,000-square-foot, freestanding store is the second England unit to be opened by Larry Hendricks. England, a subsidiary of La-Z-Boy Inc., has facilities in New Tazewell, Tenn.; Booneville, Miss.
  • Clayton Marcus in Ga.'s Sweat
    BRUNSWICK, Ga. —Sweat Furniture here has opened a 3,000-square-foot Clayton Marcus Home Expressions Gallery in its store on Community Road. The 30,000-square-foot store, founded in 1962, is owned and operated by brothers Ward Sweat and Dwight Sweat. Ward Sweat is manager of the business.
  • Leather by Design debuts in Fla.
    St. Augustine, Fla.— Leather by Design, a retailer of contemporary, traditional and transitional leather home furnishings, has opened here in the Cobblestone Village shopping center. Richard and Carol Taylor are the owners of the 3,200-square-foot store. Together, they bring 20 years of furniture experience to Leather by Design, which is their first store.

Up Front
  • Culp relocating H.P. offices, showroom
    HIGH POINT— Culp Inc. is relocating its offices and showroom here from downtown to a 55,000-square-foot building on Eastchester Drive, a move it says signals its intention to remain a major supplier of upholstery fabric and mattress ticking. The company, which will spend about $4.4 million to buy and remodel the three-story former Sara Lee Sock Co.
  • Brick buys 82 United stores in Canada
    EDMONTON, Alberta— Major Canadian retailer The Brick Warehouse Corp., operators of The Brick and Homeshow Canada, has acquired the Canadian assets of promotional chain United Furniture Warehouse for an undisclosed amount. Paul Comrie has been named president of United, which will operate as a stand-alone division based in Coquitlam, British Columbia.
  • Big Spring Air licensee seeking reorganization
    NEW YORK — Spring Air Partners-North America, bedding major Spring Air's largest manufacturing licensee, has filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. New York-based Spring Air Partners, which operates four U.S. manufacturing facilities, experienced "financial distress," said Jim Nation, president of licensor Spring Air.
  • Sears Canada to test sleep shops
    TORONTO — Sears Canada, this country's No. 1 furniture and bedding retailer, will test the sleep-shop waters this fall with up to four stand-alone bedding specialty stores. The stores, at locations yet to be named, likely will open early in the fourth quarter. "We have every intention of opening off-mall bedding stores," said Bruce Watton, national merchandising manager/furniture.
  • Innerspring import tariffs nixed
    WASHINGTON — The U.S. International Trade Commission has determined that imports of Chinese-made innersprings aren't injuring or threatening the U.S. innerspring industry. The determination ends an attempt by American Innerspring Manufacturers, a trade group representing the nation's largest innerspring producers, to impose tariffs of about 40% on innersprings from China.
  • Jones retiring as Sealy chairman
    ARCHDALE, N.C. — Ron Jones, who has headed bedding major Sealy since 1996, announced he will retire in April after the company's $1.5 billion buyout by affiliates of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is finalized. For Jones, 61, it marks the end of a 30-year career in the home furnishings industry. He plans to remain active with civic, church, family and business interests.
  • Pair of showrooms set for October
    HIGH POINT — Developers are working on a pair of furniture showroom projects here set to open for the October market. Center Point's owners have purchased a vacant building at Centennial and Russell streets they plan to transform into 128,000 square feet of new exhibit space. At 212 North Main St.
  • Sealy raising wholesale bedding prices 6%
    TRINITY, N.C. — Responding to rapidly rising steel prices, bedding sales leader Sealy said it is raising wholesale bedding prices by 6% on average, effective May 1. The price increase will affect all mattresses and box springs across its entire line, including Sealy, Stearns & Foster and Bassett.
  • Master Design hires 3
    ONTARIO, Calif. — Lane Co. veteran Philip Siler has joined importer Master Design as vice president of merchandising. Also joining the company are Jam Pourturk, formerly of Samuel Lawrence, as director of engineering and product development and Timothy Bullin, most recently national sales manager at Chromcraft, as vice president of national accounts.
  • Gacka VP at Macy's Home
    NEW YORK — Bernie Gacka has been named senior vice president of furniture and bedding in the new Macy's Home Store buying organization. He was vice president for big-ticket goods at Macy's East. Federated Department Stores created Macy's Home Store in February as a central organization for strategy, merchandising and marketing for all 425-plus Federated stores that carry the Macy's namepl...
  • Rep 'brings it on home' for the president
    AURORA, Ill. — Pamela Wimbish is one in several million. What singles out Wimbish, an independent furniture sales representative, is that she's the first person in the United States to open a Health Savings Account, part of the Medicare reform bill signed into law in December by President Bush.
  • Kluft, Robb form strategic alliance to market Aireloom, Chittenden & Eastman nationwide
    ONTARIO, Calif. — Bedding veterans Earl Kluft and Don Robb have formed a strategic alliance to provide national marketing and distribution for the Aireloom and Chittenden & Eastman bedding brands. Kluft, formerly a Spring Air licensee in California, has signed an all-cash deal to purchase from Robb the Aireloom trademarks and product designs along with Aireloom's manufacturing facilit...

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