Green, Take Two
Welcome to the Home Accents Today 2008 Green edition. This is our second year of dedicating our September issue to eco-matters. We really do believe this is more than a passing phase. It is an intensely complicated subject, to be sure, and we are all still wrapping our arms around it, but it is not going away.
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Walking on the retail side
Wholesaler Moe's Home Collection is opening two new stores this year — bringing to five its number of retail operations. As I was reading Susan Dickenson's story on this move (see page 10), it occurred to me that this is one of only a handful of home accents vendors that I know of who are doing this, at least in a brick-and-mortar format.
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Straaton & Associates to expand to Southeast
Midwest-based sales agency Straaton & Associates is expanding this year to cover the Southeast in the states of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi. Straaton will represent Austin in a selected area, as well as Loloi, Kennebunk Home, Replogle Globes, Ibolili, Bella Rose by Chateau and others.
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PTM adds Walt Disney Signature line
PTM Images debuted its new licensed Walt Disney Signature Collection last month during the Las Vegas Market. The collection is not character-driven, and uses imagery and motifs from archival and original Disney art, re-cast in contemporary palettes and framing treatments. “The Walt Disney Signature brand collaboration with PTM Images celebrates the archival art from classic films that ha...
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ICA Home Decor rebrands, opens Atlanta showroom
Intercontinental Art has rebranded itself as ICA Home Decor and opened its first showroom in Americasmart last month. The company was founded in 1976 as a framed graphics producer, and now is expanding into more home categories and building itself into a lifestyle brand for independent home and gift retailers, as well as furniture chains.
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Heard at the Las Vegas Market
A slew of ribbon-cuttings marked the show Monday and Tuesday as vendors here showed off their new spaces. With the opening of Building C adding 2.1 million square feet, the entire market is in one place for the first time. More than 320 new exhibitors are calling Vegas home, and market officials said registration figures were up 35% from January.
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Chicago Market Preview
Join Jenny Heinzen York, editor-in-chief of Home Accents Today, as she reveals results of the magazine’s exclusive Internet Survey, examining the ways vendors and retailers are using the Internet. Jenny will be joined by a panel of Internet experts to give some tips on putting that information to work and making your business successful online.
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Atlanta Market Preview
Lazy Susan USA, the home decor company of Japanese origin, is opening its first permanent Atlanta showroom in space GM 901B to showcase it selection of lifestyle accessories. A ribbon-cutting and grand opening party are set to celebrate the occasion.
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Shrinking planet
One of my favorite things to do on the weekend is visit the North Carolina Zoo. I am lucky to live just 20 minutes away from it, and over the years I have found it to be a great place to get in a long walk, at the same time that I get to see gorgeous animals from around the world — all right in my hometown.
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Napp Deady closes High Point showroom
Longtime sales and rep agency Napp Deady has closed its showrooms in Atlanta’s Americasmart and High Point’s International Home Furnishings Center.
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Sex and the home business
Bet that caught your eye, huh? The media blitz for the Sex and the City movie has gotten me thinking about this theory I have about our business. Somehow, that television program managed to convince women that spending $400+ for shoes and $1,000+ for handbags was just the thing to do. Not just for the super well-heeled, so to speak, but for regular working people too.
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Napp Deady closes Americasmart, High Point showrooms
Longtime sales and rep agency Napp Deady has closed its showrooms in Atlanta's Americasmart and High Point's International Home Furnishings Center. “I do not intend at this point to continue at this time as a rep agency,” Carol Deady, owner and president, told Home Accents Today. The agency had occupied a 21,000-sq.
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Wall decor producers hanging tough
This year continues to bring negative economic news and the fallout of all the troubles is making its way directly into the home accents business. But wall decor producers interviewed this month said they are confronting the issues, making changes where necessary, and most of all, aggressively working on product development to stay ahead of the competition.
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Licensors bring added value with greater involvement
More home accent vendors are looking at licensing opportunities as a way to boost market visibility and enrich their product offerings. Those who are finding success in the licensing arena say it's because their licensing partners bring more than just a name — they also bring their creative juices, a complementary aesthetic, industry knowledge and a fresh perspective to the partnership.
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Being hospitable
As I reported in last month's issue, several home accents vendors have taken the plunge into the contract and hospitality side of the business. Truth be told, once I started researching that article, I was amazed at just how many of “our” companies are playing that side of the field. A glance through the 2007 buyer's guide from the Las Vegas HD Expo showed me dozens and dozens of them.
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Lawrence Unlimited acquired
After 40 years in the wall decor business, Lawrence Unlimited has been sold, and its owners, Larry and Renee Anenberg, have retired. The company, including name, inventory, designs, machinery and some employees was acquired by Double Decor and its owner Doug Nagy in December of last year. Double Decor is also a wall decor company, but one that has focused on the hospitality market.
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A different world: Vendors expand reach with contract and hospitality
With recent slowdowns in the overall economy and in the home furnishings industry, more vendors are looking to the contract and hospitality niche as a new venue for marketing and selling their products, while others have worked in that realm for years. According to Nestor Pineda, director of contract sales for The Phillips Collection, it was a natural niche for his company to pursue, given the...
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Rites of spring
Forget the groundhog. Here's how I know when spring is on its way. First, the noisy thumps at my windows signal the annual return of our resident bluebirds, Fred and Wilma. For about a month just before the trees begin to bud, Fred spends his days launching himself at the windows of my home, in a misguided and surely painful attempt to make sure Wilma doesn't stray.
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Lawrence Unlimited acquired
After 40 years in the wall decor business, Lawrence Unlimited has been sold, and its owners, Larry and Renee Anenberg, have retired.
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