Weekly News Briefs

Furniture World News

High Point New Market Chief Looks At Market's Strengths and Weaknesses" The "Business Journal" (http://triad.bizjournals.com) ran an article summarizing a meeting that the new head of the Market Authority, Brian Casey had with the High Point Economic Development Corp. The article noted that Casey praised the new transportation hub and reframed a the fact that there are 188 separate buildings as a strength. He also reportedly noted that official attendance of more than 95,000 at the show exceeded past estimates of 70,000 and discussed the challenge of getting buildings to all open on the same day so that market traffic doesn't seem diluted. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– An May 4th article in the "Detroit Free Press" (http://www.freep.com) discusses the fact that, "Art Van Furniture has embarked on a review of its brand strategy to help it stay competitive at a time when consumers have many choices from mass merchants ranging from Target, warehouse clubs like Costco to catalog retailers such as West Elm and Crate & Barrel." Michigan's largest furniture chain, the article said, plans to stem the tide of declining sales by hiring a store design consulting firm, opening mattress stores and bringing in EQ3 as a supplier. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– An article in the HERALD-LEDER (www.contracostatimes.com) reported that, "A Lexington (KY) furniture store has closed its doors after accepting thousands of dollars in payments for furniture that has not been delivered." The article quoted Jim Gerken, CEO of Norwalk Furniture as saying that consumers would not lose their money or go without the furniture they ordered. Gerken told reporter Jim Jordan that nothing could be done until discussions with the Norwalk franchisee and Norwak's attorneys were completed. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– The benningtonbanner.com ran an article that reported that 84 year old Haynes and Kane will soon be closing its doors. The third generation store was facing lowered demand for its higher end furnishings in recent years. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––