Retail Update   

To me, good retail stirs an emotion. ABC Carpet & Home does just that and more. The sheer volume of product and the layering they do wows me the minute I walk through the door. It evokes a feeling of being in an Old World market from another time. The mix of product is always world class, and it never fails that I end up having something shipped home. I also always try to visit De Vera when I am in New York or San Francisco. I have been going to De Vera since the mid '90s when (owner) Federico had his shops in Hayes Valley. He's a master at display, of creating a feeling that transports you to a slower time. The physical space in New York is one of the most amazing retail spaces I've ever been to. — Ted Kennedy Watson, ...Read More

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Madison, Conn. -- Kathy Walsh and Trip Rothschild have opened their fourth Homeward Bound store, in Madison. The store carries furnishings, gifts and apparel with an emphasis on organic, sustainable and fairly traded goods. Homeward Bound stores are also located in Great Barrington, Mass., New Milford, Conn., and West Hartford, Conn. Walsh is a member of Home Accents Today's Retail Advisory Board, and the retailer was profiled in the January 2008 issue.

Jamestown, N.C. -- Furnitureland South is celebrating the opening of its newly expanded and renovated Outlet Center this month by giving away a $5,000 shopping spree. The new 300,000-sq.-ft. center showcases more than 150 designed rooms of home furnishings, all available for sale off the floor. D...Read More

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Long Beach, Ca. -- Avaliving.com has launched as an innovative and interactive meeting place for designers, consumers, suppliers and advertisers. Members can create and maintain a free member profile, send messages, post blogs, join/create social networking groups, and display design work as single images or through AvaVision for a 360-degree view. This month, the site added a Designer Room Review program, which offers free professional room reviews to Ava Living members. "Our goal is to democratize design, help consumers spend smarter, and grow designers' global client reach," said Ava Living co-founder and CEO David Bassett-Parkins. "Consumers  are often intimidated by the assumed cost/risk factor of working with a professional designer, while designers may not have the access to a large potential clientele without inves...Read More

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Yesterday, my friend and fellow Greensboron Ivan Saul Cutler, known to many as an industry marketing specialist, writer and chief blogger at InsideFurniture.com, made my day by doing something I wish my friends would do more often – While vacationing, he visited a great home accents store near Sacramento and thought enough of it to drop me an email and a few photos:

 

Ivan's email: Susa...Read More

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This fall, Ethan Allen is launching a new program for independent interior designers that will compensate them for their clients' purchases. Called The Ethan Allen Interior Design Affiliate Membership Program, the program offers qualified independent designers the ability to extend to their clients the full range of Ethan Allen customer services, warranties, and support through participating Ethan Allen Design Centers.

“The affiliate program is a natural fit for our interior design-focused brand,” said Chairman and CEO, Farooq Kathwari. “It will be a win-win partnership. Our approximately 2,000 in-house designers in some 260 Design Centers will help the independent designers to serve their clients. And the independent designers will introduce the quality, style, and remarkable value of Ethan Allen to a whole new cl...Read More

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The Chicago Market: Living and Giving’s August Retailer of the Month is Michael Blossom, owner of Florodora in Chicago. Named for the fun-loving, fashionable girls of the early 20th century Broadway musical, the two-year-old shop sells high-end clothing, gifts and home decor. The owner discussed his PR strategy with The Chicago Market in a recent interview: 

Chicago Market: We recently saw a sale of yours advertised in the Daily Candy. How did you get it in such a well known publication?
Michael Blossom: I created a press release, with plenty of detail and images about the sale, and then I em...Read More

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Winners of the 2009 NICHE Top Retailer Awards were honored on August 2nd in a ceremony held at the Buyers Market of American Craft in Philadelphia. Sponsored by NICHE magazine, a trade publication for independent craft retailers, the annual awards program recognizes craft retailers who are committed to fair business practices and to growing and strengthening the North American craft community. The complete list of winners follows:
 
Retailer of the Year: Maddi’s Gallery, Charlotte, N.C.
 
Top Retailers (alphabetically):
Artisans Gallery, Santa Cruz, Calif.
Avalon Gallery, Delray Beach, Fla.
Circle Arts, Tobermory, Ont.
Crescent Moon at the Cotton Exchange, Wilmington, N.C.
Don Drumm Studios & Gallery, Akron, Ohio
Don Muller Gallery, Northampton, Mass.
...Read More

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Designing gardener Randy Ouzts has launched a new retail Web site featuring dozens of his uniquely colored clay containers, vases and candle pots at www.inthegardenwithrandy.com. We chatted this morning about his growing collection of garden containers, trellises and forms, and the popularity of container gardening in general. Randy sees it as a trend among aging baby boomers and post-boomers who are downsizing in search of simpler, more manageable lives.

"Everyone loves a beautiful lawn and garden, but at some point you have to hire a staff to keep it up," he said. "There's a growing number of gardeners who are finding beauty and great satisfaction, not to mention a...Read More

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In the summer issue of the IFDA's newsmagazine, Network, there's a brief article about a ruling made by a federal judge in Connecticut regarding use of the title "interior designer." In a decision issued June 30th in U.S. District Court in New Haven, Judge Mark Kravitz found the statute, which said that only people who hold a specific license can call themselves "interior designers," unconstitutional because it restricts commercial speech.

In article for the Hartford Courant (July 1, 2009), Lynn Doan reported  that the lawsuit was filed in September 2008 by the Institute for Justice, an Arlington, Va.-based libertarian public interest law firm, on behalf of three unlicensed interior de...Read More

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Pier 1 Imports has named Catherine David executive vice president of merchandising. David recently worked for Kirkland's Inc. as president and CEO, where she led the merchandising, planning, marketing and store teams. 

Chapel Hill, N.C. -- The Chapel Hill News reported today (Aug.2) that Red Window, Elizabeth Edwards' new store, is now open at 400 W. Rosemary St., with an official grand opening scheduled for August 22nd.

Atlanta, Ga. – Sovereign, a luxury high-rise condominium located at 3344 Peachtree Rd. in the Buckhead district, recently announced an agreement with retail boutique Pieces to outfit a 2,500-sq.-ft. model home on the building’s 33rd floor.

Costa Mesa, Calif.. -- My Sparrow opened a ret...Read More

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July 31, 2009 -- JC Penney opened the doors today to its first Manhattan store, located on Herald Square near Macy's flagship. Although the retailer maintained its corporate office in Manhattan from 1914 to 1988, the 153,000-sq.-ft. store is the retailer’s first in the borough. Home Textiles Today reports that the new store is providing an early debut of Cindy Crawford Style, JC Penney's newest exclusive home brand, which rolls out in September. The department heavily spotlights private labels Linden Street and American Living as well as the house JCP Home Collection brand. For HTT's story and exclusive store photos, visit: http://tinyurl.com/mnayys.

At ...Read More

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In her July column for Home Accents Today, Lynni Megginson writes that now more than ever, retailers must look for creative ways to keep customers coming through the doors. She goes on to talk about the connections she’s made by blogging, Twittering and Facebooking and encourages others to take the social network plunge in order to get the word out about their shops, services and products.

 

...Read More

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