What began as a niche category a few years ago has exploded into the mainstream, as water bottles are now offered by a plethora of manufacturers.
A slew of new styles debuted at last month’s International Home + Housewares Show, and HFN has selected a few to highlight, both here and in a...
How long does it take to build up a brand? Years, sometimes 30 or 40 years to really make it stick. How long does it take to tear one down? About the time it should take to stop a Toyota going 60-miles-per-hour ... around 60 seconds.
How Toyota comes out of this safety—not to mention public...
At the risk of sounding like the head of the Department of Redundancy Department, I think it’s important that all of us in the home furnishings business take a moment to fully comprehend something that happened this week that is one of the most important developments in global economics ever.
It...
So, the latest retail rocket science theory is to start condensing assortments around key brands, eliminating others and consolidating ordering from fewer suppliers.
This gives the store more buying power as its orders get larger as well as making it easier for retail operations and stocking...
What’s that old saying about what to do when life hands you a lemon? Make lemonade?Well, lots of people don’t like lemonade so maybe we should add another alternative: Get rid of the lemons and go out and get some new fruit.And before you think I’ve been drinking something other than fruit juices,...
Don’t look now, but the pendulum is starting to swing back the other way.No, some company at the Housewares Show this week is not introducing an automatic pendulum slicing machine ... although that’s actually not such a bad idea. The pendulum we’re talking about is the symbolic one, the one...
How can you be in two places at once and not be anywhere at all?,” the classic Firesign Theater comedy group once queried. To find out, just ask Cindy Crawford.Those of us who trudged through the Oscar Awards on Sunday night—no thanks to Cablevision and ABC—were treated to a running marathon of J.C...
This has not been a funny year. There has not been much to laugh about for the millions of people out of work, for those who have watched their personal financial situations deteriorate and for all the companies struggling to survive the worst economic period in several lifetimes. So, in this...
The news a few weeks ago that Walmart had set up a huge sourcing infrastructure in Asia and that it was going to aggressively expand the amount of direct importing it was doing was not just massive: it was Walmartian massive.
I think in a few years the general merchandise industry will look back at...
So, yesterday the official furniture buyer, Credenza Phil, came out of his hole and saw his shadow, which means we’re going to have six more months of cold furniture sales. But then it’s going to start getting really hot.
The furniture industry, some of which is gathered in Las Vegas this week for...