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What Can We Learn From the ARTS Nominees?

December 30, 2007 The 19th Annual ARTS Finalists for 2007 have been named.  The Dallas Market Center and the Accessories Team (ART) nominate retailers, manufacturers and reps that best support and build the decorative accessories industry.  Below are the Retailers I would like to concentrate on.  I looked at each website to see if there is something we can learn and incorporate in our businesses for 2008:

Retailers, East/Atlantic:
Furniture store: Abizaks, At Home Nashville, Boyles Furniture
Home accent specialty store: 24e., Accessories Etc., Celadon Home

Retailers, Midwest/Southwest
Furniture store: Alyson Jon Interiors, Drexel Heritage, McManus Company
Home accent specialty store: D'Hierro, Signed Sealed Delivered, The Home Accessory Co.

Retailers, West
Furniture store: C.S. Wo & Sons, Zinc Details
Home accent specialty store: Camille's Collection, Moses at Home, Unique Interior Design

Rising Star Retailers: Culinary Connection, Gabrielle, Leon & Lulu, Motif Modern Living, Needless Necessities

The first thing I noticed, there has been a casualty.  Abizaks has closed its doors, possibly because of a new location.  On November 17th they said “Looking ahead at a stagnant economic forecast, and taking stock of where we are right now, we have reached the point where it would be irresponsible to carry on as Abizak's any longer.

Second, many of the retailer/accessory stores have an online sales presence.  They either have an on line catalog with pricing or they show prices.

At Home Nashville features a new website.  Six retailers have no web sites that I could find.  Only one site Needless Necessities advertises a designer program of discounts from retail.

Ivan Saul Cutler writing in his Inside Furniture column complains that furniture is sold incorrectly.  That too much attention is paid to price and not enough to the experience of what new furniture can do for you.  Accessories Etc gets it.  On the home page is a Winston Churchill quote: “We shape our dwellings and afterwards our dwellings shape us.”  Or mark Hampton: “Oh, the fun of arriving at a house and feeling the immediate spark, which tells you that you are going to have a good time.”  24e says "24e. exists to bring you an eclectic collection of furnishings and accessories designed to help you fuse your individuality and inventiveness with your home environment. We at 24e. pride ourselves on providing 'more than furniture'."

Two sites appear to clearly know their market.  Drexel Heritage says their furniture “lasts for generations” and
Motif Modern Living has a young woman in a short skirt enjoying sitting on a sofa.  This site is not for baby boomers.

Here’s the one big thing I can use at Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery.  Several stores are using seminars to educate the retail public and gain customers.  Boyles Furniture has a series of seminars that begin at 10:30 AM and Accessories Etc has a number of seminars that run from 7 to 8 PM.  In our case, I can see interior designers conducting the seminars.  We get clients for the designers and a heightened relationship.

Thoughts???  Email me at landfair3554@comcast.net

Posted by Mike Landfair on December 30, 2007 | Comments (0)