The Home Furnishings Association invited High Point Representatives Kathy Manning (D) and Ted Budd (R) to visit High Point Market. HFA CEO Mark Schumacher discussed with them the furniture industry and the issues that retailers face such as supply chain, tariffs, and more.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) at the Department of Labor recently released its long-anticipated Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) on ‘Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace.’ Labor Secretary Marty Walsh led this effort while President Biden’s nominee for OSHA Administrator, Doug Parker, is still working
Our conditioning is for four major furniture markets each year—one every quarter. The pandemic messed that all up. Each furniture market we have had are not in their typical time slots. You have been tempted with First Tuesdays and more robust Pre-Markets as everyone is dying to see new products.
Today’s hiring challenges What would you say is your biggest challenge in 2021? Up until recently, I think most of us would have said it was the broken supply chain. But for many of us, that has changed to the hiring challenges of finding and keeping quality employees. No, scratch
Like everyone else, I can’t wait for the end of this restricted pandemic life of ours. Indeed, there are going to be work-at-home aspects of this current situation that will stay with us. We are working with that reality at HFA right now. There are customer buying habits that
Sales and optimism are running high for our industry right now, and the latest HFA/Piper Sandler Furniture Retailer Survey bears this out. When 2021 started, most retailers expected this year to end up right around 8%. After the first quarter of this year, those estimates now sit between 10 and
The economy. If ever we needed someone with a crystal ball to tell us where this economy is going, now would be the time to find that person. We’ve been dealing with such confounding elements. Demand for home furnishings is still up even though supply is still down. While that
A shortage of truck drivers is one of the long-term supply-chain problems impacting the furniture industry. And it’s why the Home Furnishings Association supports a proposed pilot program aimed at bringing younger drivers into the profession. The Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration recently announced plans to study the feasibility of
HFA members should use the recent rioting and looting across the country to take a second look at their property insurance coverage, says a consultant for Solution Partner Arthur J Gallagher. Nik Levin says retailers sometimes underestimate the value on their property — either unknowingly or to save money on
Bobby Watson, co-owner Hoot Judkins Furniture in Redwood City, Calif., wants to share his loan application experience with other Home Furnishings Association members. Since March 17, the business has been open only for “contactless shopping by appointment. Contactless pickup and delivery available.” On that day, Watson also launched his effort
More Sales = More Returns As retailers gear up for peak holiday season sales, it is important not to lose
After spending most of the past month doing sales meetings every morning, I’ve been exposed to tons of different kinds
The Home Furnishings Association and more than 100 other business groups continue pushing Congress for easy PPP loan forgiveness. So
On February 24th, President Biden signed an Executive Order (EO), creating a broad, government-wide supply chain review. One of the
The Home Furnishings Association in May became a key, early supporter of the RESTART Act. Now, perhaps just in time,
Congress and the Trump administration are preparing another Covid-19 relief package. The Home Furnishings Association’s Washington representative, Chris Andresen, and government relations liaison Doug Clark
Everyone is trying to figure out what the “new normal” will look like when your stores reopen. What will recovery look like to you and
