Association Blog

Attending furniture markets is only half the job; the real work starts when you get home. Whew! Take a deep breath and relax. Kick off your shoes and allow your mind to decompress. It’s been a busy few days at furniture market, and now you’re back in your store. If you’re like most retailers, as you get back to work there’s a bigger-than-life stack of mail, phone messages, notes from employees, and other concerns, each wanting your immediate attention. And while you’re sorting through all that, you have stacks of catalogs, information sheets and notes from market to review. Until

Mandy Jeffries isn’t afraid to try something different. Maybe that’s why Colfax Furniture is so successful. HFA member Mandy Jeffries understands that life changes, plans change, dreams, too. Sometimes that change comes slowly, imperceptible at first. Other times change comes suddenly without any warning. The key, says Jeffries, is being able to evolve and adapt when the inevitable change comes. That flexibility is what got Jeffries through middle school, when she was sent to a military academy, so her mother could make a go of it running Colfax Furniture, the family business. Or when Jeffries, who swore she would never

In this booming economy, make sure you’re grounded by these 8 tips We’re in the midst of good times, people. Not just the furniture industry, but almost every industry across the nation and Canada are enjoying a booming economy. Sure, there are pockets where the economy and individual companies haven’t fully recovered, but furniture isn’t one of them. I’m reading Keith McFarland’s excellent book, The Breakthrough Company. It reminded me of a column I wrote more than a decade ago that I still believe holds true today. Things that happen to us in this time of prosperity cause little chinks