Increased awareness fuels growth in green home accents
Increasing consumer awareness continues to grow the green segment for manufacturers of home furnishings. Buyers have learned what to look for, and with wholesale clubs, furniture chains and department stores getting into the green groove, there's more to choose from. Greater interest among the accessories, lighting and rug categories led to the Sustainable Furniture Council's August announceme...
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Accessories Resource Team hosts annual conference in Charleston, S.C.
Charleston Place Hotel in Charleston, S.C., was the site of the Accessories Resource Team's 2008 annual conference, held August 21-24. Accessory industry manufacturers, retailers, representatives and suppliers enjoyed seminars, workshops and social events designed to promote camaraderie and provide ideas, inspiration and useful information.
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A new chapter
Vance Kitira has just started a new chapter in his life. It begins with the discovery that, according to a recent CT scan, the lung cancer surgery he had in March of this year was a complete success. As a result, Kitira says he appreciates things more and is living his life more fully. The experience also left him more sensitive to the air he breathes.
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Silk tithes
Kris Nolan is the founder and CEO of Artistry in Silk, maker of the elaborate silk botanical designs that adorn the Furniture Classics showroom surfaces in Atlanta and High Point. It's an effective pairing of flora and furniture that benefits both companies. For the furniture maker, there's the added interest provided by the colors and textures of seasonal blooms and preserved greenery.
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Moe's Home Collection stores opening in California, Washington
Two NEW Moe's Home Collection stores are set to open: one in Fremont, Calif., and another in Federal Way, Wash., a Seattle suburb. The 20,000-sq.-ft. Fremont store is located just north of San Jose and marks Moe's first retail venture in California. The Federal Way store, the company's second retail location in Washington, will bring the company's total number of stores to five.
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Lamp and lighting manufacturers stay plugged in with new markets, energy saving options, more accessories
Interviews conducted forthe lamp and lighting Business Update that ran exactly one year ago revealed an industry-wide commitment on the part of manufacturers to remain positive, in spite of rising production costs and slowing retail and housing markets. Twelve months later, lighting manufacturers still maintain that times are tough, yet they're finding some solace in the fact that nearly every...
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Creative Curators
Colorado Springs retailers Rich Schell and Greg Wragge are using sniggywhatsits and discounts to lure customers to their furnishings, floral and fine art gallery, Rich Designs Home. It's all part of a year-long advertising campaign that involves registering for a December shopping spree, being rewarded with a sniggywhatsit (a small floral bouquet) and redeeming the postcard invitation for a 10%...
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Vintage Renaissance Man
Fifteenth century Italian architect Leon Battista Alberti is credited for the quote “a man can do all things if he but wills them,” an aspiration shared by many of his knowledge-seeking peers of the Renaissance. Today that idea endures as the casually invoked “where there's a will, there's a way.
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Eastern Shore Elegance
When weary Washingtonians and burned-out Baltimoreans load up the car for a little weekend rest and relaxation, many head for Maryland's Eastern Shore where miles of shoreline, meandering creeks and rivers, hidden inlets and pastoral countryside offer endless opportunities for recreation and retreat.
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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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HAT's 50 Retail Stars for 2008
With regard to Home Accents Today's 2008 Retail Stars list, we have good news and bad news. The good news is that this is definitely our best year to date in terms of the quantity and quality of nominations we received for the annual list. The bad news is that, as a result, there are some really great star-quality stores that didn't make it on the list.
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Thinking outside the container
To know Moe's Home Collection is to know its president and CEO Moe Samieian: a relaxed blend of modernity, elegance and savoir faire, spiced with a few surprises and a good dose of color. The same description might also apply to the Moetini, a concoction that has become such a popular showroom staple, a full-time Moetini-server is hired to shake and stir at each market, though the recipe is a t...
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To Live and Buy in L.A.
To be a successful home furnishings retailer in the entertainment capital of the world takes creativity, ingenuity and a bit of showmanship. It also requires an ability to weather the economic effects of an occasional earthquake, brushfire or industry workers' strike. But most importantly, it demands an understanding of the audience.
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Raymond Waites to open New Vintage Gallery in High Point
Designer Raymond Waites has begun readying a permanent space at 1313 North Main Street in High Point to house his New Vintage Gallery of original art. Waites and curator Russell Erik Berge are planning an official launch during April's High Point Market and putting plans in motion for two more galleries in New York and Florida.
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Raymond Waites to open New Vintage Gallery in High Point
Designer Raymond Waites has begun readying a permanent space at 1313 North Main Street in High Point to house his New Vintage Gallery of original art. Waites and curator Russell Erik Berge are planning an official launch during April's High Point Market and putting plans in motion for two more galleries in New York and Florida.
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Nester, Napa style
Before KC Cunningham turned Napa Home & Garden into a successful manufacturer of high-end decor, she was perfectly content puttering around in her own Napa home and garden. Her move into the decorative accessories industry was accidental — one that came late in life and for which she credits husband, Jerry, her business partner.
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Harmonic progression
Three months ago, Kathy Walsh and her husband of three years, Trip Rothschild, signed a lease for their third Homeward Bound store, in West Hartford, Conn. A month later the store opened, just in time for the residents of Greater Hartford and central Connecticut to begin their holiday shopping with Homeward Bound's organic “Interior Harmony” lifestyle selections.
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Chesapeake Bay Bliss
Mei Xu, the creator and owner of Chesapeake Bay Candle and Blissliving Home, has one thing in common with Andy Warhol — they both found fortune in Campbell's soup cans. Warhol painted them; Xu made them into candle molds. Warhol exhibited the results in a West Coast gallery and introduced the country to pop art.
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Champagne & Chandeliers in Sherman
Six years ago, Carol Davis combined two decades of design experience and an innate marketing talent to launch Interior Home Store. Since then, the 5,000-sq.-ft. Sherman, Texas, retail and design business has enjoyed consistent year-over-year growth, and projects sales of $1.25 million for 2007. “Things are looking up this year in more ways than one,” said Davis, who is inviting her ...
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Stellar Stores report
Home Accents Today's annual retail stars list recognizes enterprising home accents retailers who are meeting the challenges of an increasingly competitive marketplace with innovative strategies and creative solutions. All are independents, many of them family-owned, each owing their success to a series of plans, creative ideas, trials and tribulations that have come to define their store's pers...
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