Many years ago, a wise furniture veteran felt compelled to share with this young grasshopper. He looked over the top of his reading glasses and said: “This business is like a weather vane; when colors are dark, times are bad; when colors are light, things are looking up.
Ask anyone in retail and they’ll tell you. Holidays are not about sleigh rides, chestnuts and rosy memories round the fire. They’re all about setting up and taking down; unpacking, tagging, selling and delivering; rushed customers, stressed coworkers, and the feeling that no matter how hard you try there’s no way to get it all [ read more… ]
For me, reality TV is the reason there are some three hundred channels to choose from on cable with absolutely nothing to watch. Still, there is one program I enjoy watching for the sheer voyeuristic pleasure of it, and it never seems to get old. House Hunters International travels the globe covering real estate purchases [ read more… ]
What is hidden on the inside of your upholstery really counts most. The construction features below relate to our mid-range to premium upholstery. FRAMES MADE TO LAST Kiln dried hardwoods are precision machined and fitted to prevent warping. The double or triple-doweled joints are corner blocked, fitted, and then screwed into position. This results in [ read more… ]
I understand what’s happening, and I know how it feels: Wondering what the news will bring today as you step out the door in the morning, and hoping it’s not worse tonight, when you get back home again. Conversations with friends and neighbors that turn to worry and gloom. Waiting… waiting… waiting… for that other [ read more… ]
Fear is paralyzing us — nowhere is this more apparent than in a retail store. Whether they’re selling shoes or refrigerators or new furniture, stores everywhere are wondering where all the people have gone. It’s like someone wrote a Sci-fi movie where aliens eat your money if you step inside a store!
Just like in some old Sci-fi movies, the antidote for an alien invasion lies in exactly that which we fear — going out to meet and greet them. It’s time to step out once again, however timidly, and acknowledge the marketplace. Not that spending irresponsibly is the answer — certainly we have learned that much. [ read more… ]
To the casual observer, we were underdogs. To take on an event the size of our first ever Estate Sale, when the odds against us included the worst economy in decades, seemed next to impossible. Analysts would have put us as a ten seed, maybe even a fifteen.
However it’s applied, the term “value” almost always refers to something that lasts, something that doesn’t fall apart as soon as it’s put to the test, something with lasting appeal. I’ll never forget my first experience with sticker-shock, shopping for clothes in Europe. The hand-made sweaters and boiled wool jackets seemed an appalling price, until [ read more… ]
It’s a brand new world when people with small cars and modest houses are the ones who look really brainy. Even if your house and your job remain the same, somehow the latest and greatest, the biggest and best doesn’t hold quite the allure that it did even a short year ago; and from out [ read more… ]
