Changing times

Becky Boswell Smith -- Home Accents Today, 11/1/2004

Lexington adds its name to a growing list of furniture companies opening their own retail stores. Q: Are they suppliers or competitors?

• A new survey shows luxury customers buying high-end items at department stores. Q: Didn't everyone bury department stores a while back?
• Analysts suggest Wal-Mart is poised to take over the home textiles category from the likes of Bed Bath & Beyond and Linens 'N' Things. Q: Is there a category they don't want to own?
• The names of venerable stores — Rich's, Burdines, Lazarus, Goldsmith's — are set to disappear from the retail landscape as all are merged into Macy's. Q: What happened to personality in stores?

I'm not certain what conclusions one can draw from the news items mentioned above. There certainly are no sure things about any of them, with the exception that change continues to be the explosive factor in retailing.

For the past few weeks our research department and I have been noodling a whole bunch of numbers to prepare our Universe Study, which will be published next month. One of the biggest challenges has been deciding how to categorize the channels of distribution because, boy, have they changed.

We've made some changes, moved some stores from one channel to another and, frankly, been a little surprised at how much change there is and how challenging it is to define retail outlets.

With all that said, we've done it. And next month, you can read the results.

There's also plenty of change on the other side, the manufacturers and importers. As you will see in our Lamp & Lighting Portfolio, vendors are listening closely to what retailers and end consumers are saying. Prices are coming down, simple, clean lines are dominant and resin is no longer the wunderkind of lamp bases.

Yes, the times indeed, they are a-changing.