By Warren Shoulberg
There was furniture bought and sold in Las Vegas last month—honest.
While the furniture industry is certainly feeling the most pain of any home classification from this recession-teetering-on-something-worse, tens of thousands of retailers did descend upon the World Market Center to shop for new product, hunt out bargains and closeouts and generally look for a spark—any spark—to try to reignite their business.
The Las Vegas Market exhibitors responded accordingly, with plenty of product, old and new, from plenty of companies—old and new, as well. In the latter category was the debut of the upscale Furniture Brands International brands—Drexel Heritage, Thomasville and Henredon—which shared a showroom in Building C. Veteran heavyweight exhibitors like Ashley, AICO and Lexington all showed new product as well.
As in much of the rest of the market, sharp pricing and aggressive promotional activity were the name of the game.
Aspenhome, for instance, substantially increased its opening price point Savvy Solutions program, which is priced some 15 percent below the company’s average range. Additional pieces were added to both pre-existing collections, Kensington and Cambridge.
Over at Broyhill the company expanded upon its Express Program, layering on case goods onto what had been just an upholstery program. It now includes 16 upholstery frames, four leather frames, six bedroom groups and three dining groups.
Broyhill also continued to talk up its online research project, which allows consumers to rank conceptual illustrations of new furniture. The company cleverly displayed one group that tested poorly behind yellow police-style caution tape as a symbol of the program’s credibility.