Members of the Casual Furniture Retailers Association share their perspectives on various topics of interest to fellow specialty retailers.

I just finished creating a glass-burning fireplace in my showroom. This project started when I received some literature in the mail from a hearth-glass supplier, Firecrystals.

http://www.firecrystals.com

Not only did they sell glass, they sold in about a gazillion colors (that’s more than ten and less than 100). I had already had some positive experiences with Agio bars that had built-in glass firepit and several of our customers had inquired about doing glass in O. W. Lee’s firepit. I guess the stars and planets were in the right alignment because I was already looking for something to replace a log design that wasn’t producing like my other lines. I was ready to put something new in that burning firebox. Glass seemed the answer.

Of course, since I had very little experience with glass, I had to learn the new product from ...Read More

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Every year or so, one of our trade magazines carries a story ranking big box stores by their annual sales in outdoor furniture. Casual Living printed that store in their November, 2008 issue. You can read the whole thing at:

http://www.casualliving.com/article/CA6612578.html

This is how the top five big box retailers ranked along with their annual sales and the number of stores they have:

Company                   Estimated                Number of Stores        Sales per Store
                            Sales ...Read More

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You can’t pick up a trade magazine or the financial section of a newspaper without reading about another retail chain closing or going bankrupt; Linens N Things and Mervyns most recently. The stock market is up and down so wildly it could be a new ride at Disneyworld! With so much bad press about the economy and uncertainness caused by a presidential election, it is hard to keep my eye on the ball and run my business. But keep my eye on the ball I must.

The problem is: there is so much bad news every day it is hard to remember you came to empty the swamp when the alligators are snapping at your tail. Many years ago when we sold pool supplies, a customer came in complaining that he couldn’t get his pool to be blue and clear. It turns out he was testing his pool three times a day and adding chemicals every time. He never gave his pool enough time to reach equili...Read More

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In my last blog I summarized a part of the "Brick or Click" round table held at last month’s Casual Show. I talked about how many retailers in our industry have web sites that are only informational. This blog covers the rest of the round table which was about a side of our industry that, until now, has been left to the big boxes, wholesale clubs, and catalogs. . . selling on the web.

Of the thirty or so attendees at the internet round table, only one was selling direct over the Internet and that company was a fulfillment company for larger retailers who sold over the Internet. For most of us, selling online is not something we want to do. Yet, we have to compete every day with retailers who are selling via the Web.

This was a hot topic for the  brick and mortar retailers at the round table. We all felt buying outdoor furniture is a f...Read More

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While at market last month, I attended a very interesting CFR round table about how retailers in our industry can and do use the Internet. It got me to thinking and. . . well,  you know we are in trouble when that happens.

A web site can do many different things. You can sell from it, use it as a source of information for your customers, create a community of consumers, or even use it as your design studio. Each of us has to decide why we want to have a web site but all of us have to realize we can’t get by without a web site. Think about this for a second. When asked, only two people at the round table had used the Yellow Pages in the last thirty days. On the other hand, every hand went up when they were asked how many had done a “Google” search for a company or product in the last month. It may have been a nonscientific poll, but I think it refle...Read More

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The September International Casual Furniture Market wasn’t as productive as I had hoped. I guess part of it was because I had been to the pre-market just two months earlier and not many of the majors introduced new product at the September market. The exception was Brown Jordan who waited till September to make their new introductions. Because of this, I was dependent on the temps to “WOW” me; but, to tell the truth, I was sort of underwhelmed by them. There was a lot of outdoor wicker mostly very contemporary or mid-century retro stuff. As much as I personally like both styles, they just don’t sell in my market. There were a few bright spots, though, and I thought I would share them with you.

My favorite accessory was the standing vertical outdoor fans from Lasko on the temp floor:

http://www.laskoproducts.com

They h...Read More

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Having lived through Katrina, "the worst natural catastrophe" of our time, I would like to express my hopes that the people of Texas get through this with as little damage as possible. I am sure when I speak for everyone in our industry when I say if there is anything we can do for you, please don't hesitate to call on us. Our prayers are with you.

Yours in confused retailing, Bruce

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BloJust finished reading the Market issue of one of our trade mags. I came away with the feeling that the specialty market has changed a lot since last year. Meadowcraft wants to be O. W. Lee. Casual Creations wants to be Pride. Telescope wants to be Tropitone. Cast Classics wants to be Veneman. Agio wants to be Summer Classics. The low end of the specialty market has disappeared as manufacturers see demand at the high end and are developing their lines accordingly.

The most dramatic turn around happened at Pride several years ago. Gone were the PVC pipe chairs, the cheap cast chairs, and inexpensive aluminum/sling products. They were replaced in one fell swoop by high-end, well-designed collections. It was a sea change for the company that paid off in spades.

Then about two or three years ago Woodard reinvented their Landgrave offerings. The $79 to $89 c...Read More

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Have you thought about doing the following?
1.    Take checkbooks, withholding tax forms, deposit slips with you out of harm’s way.
2.    Take all insurance papers with you out of harm’s way.
3.    Get the phone numbers of the claim centers for all of your insurance companies.
4.    Be sure batteries to your digital camera(s) are charged. If you need to send info to your insurance company, you may not be able to get regular film processed. Even if you can, mail service may be spotty and you won’t be able to mail them. It will be easier to send digital pictures to your insurance company.
5.    Take cash. If electricity and/or phones go out, most businesses will not be able to process credit cards.
6.    Create a contact list that includes c...Read More

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On Wednesday, I brought my truck and computers back into the store. Residents of Metairie were being allowed back in but no one came to the store or called while I was there getting things back to normal. Will we ever have customers again?

On Thursday, my store manager, a sales consultant, and myself met at the store at about 10:00 in the morning. We three were the only staff who were back in the area. Everyone else was planning to return that day. Spent about two hours at the store making a payroll and paying invoices. Yes, even after a storm you have to pay out money. No one came to the store or called while we were there. Will we ever have customers again?

Today, Friday, we opened the store for business as usual at 9 in the morning. Have about 75% of my staff back. I expect be fully staffed by tomorrow. Had a few telephone calls from customers even had o...Read More

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As soon as I got up, I called my store’s FAX number. Amazingly it answered. That meant we had electricity and phone service. What a delightful surprise. The 24-mile bridge I had to use to get to my store was blockaded. Only people with credentials could get it. I tried to apply for the credentials over the Internet using my iPhone. What a lifesaver that iPhone was turning out to be. I applied for the credential, which were supposed to be emailed to me. I never got them.

I called a contact I have who is on the board of the bridge. I had to leave voice mail. Hopefully he will call me back today. Until then, I had no choice but to go home and start cleaning up the debris left by the storm. Still no electricity but the whole house generator was working like a champ.

Finally got the call from my contact who not only authorized me to cross the bridge to ins...Read More

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Last night at about 6:30 a squall suddenly started up. High winds, horizontal rain, trees flailing. It was scary and I knew I wouldn't be able to cope if I stayed awake while the storm hit. I went to be and slept till 7 in the morning, dreaming that the hurricane had skipped us completely. It hadn't. In fact, it was just starting to make landfall. It looked like it was going to skirt our entire coast from one end to the other rather than come right on land. That would have destroyed the city of Fouchon, which houses the largest oil port in the country. If this happened, the country would have been cut of from its largest source of oil for days, if not weeks. It took an hour before the storm came onshore and the threat to Fouchon was over.

Lost electricity for good about 9:30 in the morning but the storm stayed at tropical storm strength for the area where I lived. Turned ...Read More

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