Holiday sales were promising, retailers are reporting upticks, macro-economic factors such as unemployment and auto sales have bounced back, and the ever-precarious real estate situation appears to be stabilizing.
Add some of the industry’s best attended and highly anticipated shows to the early...
The news earlier this month that Martha Stewart is taking her wares to J.C. Penney is worthy of a cover story for Star magazine.
Not surprisingly, tongues are wagging.
Home furnishings is all abuzz about Martha’s proposed ménage à trois: J.C. Penney has clearly wooed Martha successfully, yet she’s...
New York City felt a lot—well, a little bit—like High Point, N.C., this week when furniture giants Lexington Home Brands and LaZBoy braved Manhattan’s infamous holiday traffic to highlight their ongoing efforts to expand beyond their traditional roots.
Lexington unveiled its brand-spanking new 10,...
Whenever I hear the word “tradition,” I think of my all-time favorite musical “Fiddler on the Roof.”
As Tevye might point out, tradition helps to preserve cultures as well as keep families close. Tradition’s a good thing.
However, with all due respect to Tevye and ritualists everywhere, traditions...
You might think that Tom Conley, the recently named president/CEO of the High Point Market Authority, has seen it all.
As the former president of both the National Housewares Manufacturing Association and the Toy Industry Association, Conley has been around the block, as they say. But in his...
It’s nothing new to say that to succeed in business, a company needs to change with the times.
But it seems that the rate of change today is so head-spinningly fast, it’s nearly impossible to keep up.
The current state of metamorphosis occurred to me last month when I read “20/20: Vision for the...
Bob Maricich just may be the busiest man in the home furnishings industry.
Maricich was already overseeing the mammoth World Market Center in Las Vegas, when its owners bought the major showrooms in High Point, N.C., in May, creating the umbrella entity International Market Centers. As the head of...
Mouth-watering smells of Spanish-influenced food filled the kitchen theater as chef Hector Santiago prepared a rice dish. Complete with luscious-looking, lime-colored fava beans, the spicy meal could be viewed bigger than life on large screens throughout the demonstration area.
Audience...
American industry has been on a cost-cutting craze over the last couple of years, laying off employees to save money.
Some companies that have trimmed their payrolls were surely loaded with bloat and prime candidates for some strategic chopping. No harm, no foul, as they say.
But with continued...
Remember the old saying, “Go west young man”?
Perhaps that impression should be altered to “go east,” as far east as you can get. In other words, head to China and take advantage of the nation’s rapidly expanding consumer market.
I was an eyewitness to the voracity and power of the Chinese consumer...
