MAKATI, Philippines — Bedscape Corp. opened an Ashley store here in this Manila suburb on April 15. The 9,569-square-foot showroom, located on Glorietta 3, Ayala Center, Makati, 1224 Metro Manila, joins 12 others under the Bedscape umbrella, and it makes 13 total stores in the Philippines, while Ashley has more than 1,125 locations worldwide. The Makati store will employ approximately seven people. “The response leading up to this event has been tremendous,” said George Lorenzana, co-owner and managing director, Bedscape Corp. “We’re proud to serve the Makati community again as the No. 1 ..read more

HIGH POINT – Across both upholstery and case goods, it was all about value and promotional prices for Lifestyle Enterprises at the recent High Point Market. “Our objective was to bring products to market that would offer values at quality levels that retailers had in the past,” said Michael Hsieh, CEO. “With supply chain issues, high container costs and excessive inventory levels, most retailers had to abandon their opening price points, which created issues for retailers who are trying to drive traffic and create sales. “What we found at market was that our major customers have reduced their ..read more

HIGH POINT — Google announced on Tuesday that the long-anticipated and often-delayed demise of third-party cookies on its Chrome browser would be postponed for a third time. In making the announcement, Google noted that ongoing privacy and fair competition concerns from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) mean that the phase-out would not take place at the end of this year. While the company did not provide a specific timetable for the changes, it expressed hopes to begin depreciating cookies by 2025. “We recognize that there are ongoing challenges related to reconciling divergen ..read more

BERLINE, Ohio — Viztech, a collective of nearly 200 Amish furniture manufacturers, has developed a new website to better connect consumers with the retail stores that carry the furniture they’re looking for. Viztech had previously only focused on connecting Amish manufacturers with retailers. Now, Amishcollective.com speaks to the end-consumer. “Our goal has always been to connect people with people,” said Dave Troyer, Viztech founder. “Viztech has worked to connect builders and retailers, but we needed a platform to connect end-consumers with retailers. End-consumers were finding products on ..read more

HIGH POINT — WithIt (Women in The Home Furnishings Industry Today) will hold its annual professional conference, themed “Transformative Thinking for Dynamic Leadership,” with marketing and leadership expert Portia Mount set to keynote. The conference is scheduled from June 10-12 at the Westin Poinsett Hotel in Greenville, S.C. Mount, a marketer, TEDx speaker and co-author of “Kick Some Glass: 10 Ways Women Succeed at Work on Their Own Terms,” will lead discussions and practical exercises aimed at exploring core values, identifying strengths and defining professional aspirations. She will prov ..read more

AUGUSTA, Ga. — In most years, Weinberger’s Furniture & Mattress Showcase here tops $10 million between its three showrooms. Sounds like your typical community furniture store success story, right? It is, but that’s not all. Look again, and you’ll find that the family-owned, 92-year-old retailer had six of its retail sales associates eclipse $1 million in sales in 2023. In all, those half dozen salespeople accounted for $7.5 million of Weinberger’s total sales volume. Vice President Karly Weinberger, a fourth-generation member of the ownership family, told Furniture Today that six members ..read more

DANBURY, Conn. — Retail outperformed wholesale during Top 100 retailer Ethan Allen’s third quarter, but both fell by double digits. Retail segment writer orders declined 8.6%, and retail net sales decreased 18.8% to $122.6 million. On the wholesale side of the business, written orders dropped 14.6%, and net sales tumbled 21.3% to $89.8 million. Consolidated net sales rang in at $146.4 million, decreasing 20.1%. The company pointed to soft post-pandemic demand. Ellen Allen last generated a quarterly sales increase in the period ended Sept. 30, 2022. The company last generated positive quarterl ..read more

OAKVILLE, Ontario, Canada — Cocoon Furnishings is answering consumer concerns around inflation with limited-time discounts on its upholstery collection. The promotion aims to provide customers with cost-effective pieces enhance their living spaces with high-quality upholstered furniture. The discount offer includes various pieces of upholstered furniture such as sofas, chairs, ottomans and sectionals. Cocoon’s upholstery collection features a range of designs, fabrics and colors. The limited-time discounts aligns with the company’s mission to make luxury furnishings more accessible to a wider ..read more

WASHINGTON – Despite higher interest rates last month, new home sales rose in March due to limited inventory of existing homes, according to the National Assn. of Home Builders. However, the pace of new home sales will be under pressure in April as mortgage rates moved above 7% this month, the group said, which is expected to moderate sales and increase the use of builder sales incentives this spring. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in March rose 8.8% to a 693,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate, from a downwardly revised reading in February, according to newly released data from th ..read more

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Although soft home accounted for a slightly larger slice of the overall Big Lots pie in 2023, sales in the category were sluggish, and its furniture segment was hit the hardest. A shortage of Broyhill-branded furniture in the first half of 2023 proved a particular drag. In second half of 2023, however, Big Lots’ Broyhill in-stock Broyhill bounced back to normal levels and furniture sales improved, according to the filing. The soft home segment’s sales and comps each fell 12.2%, with sales in the category coming in nearly $105 million lower than in 2022. Even so, the merchandi ..read more