August 2017

Ed Menapace (left) and Bill Curtis (right) aren’t afraid to try something different. Maybe that’s why The Farmhouse Store in Westfield, N.J., is so successful.
Robert Bell
Agents of Change

The first thing you need to know about The Farmhouse Store, the wildly popular furniture store of celebrities, Millennials and every consumer in between, is that it was never supposed to be a furniture store. Ed Menapace started out raising “our baby”, as he lovingly calls his store, as a

Retail Challenges
David McMahon
Finding good employees

…and other retail challenges In a two-year study in conjunction with the Home Furnishings Association, we asked furniture retailers to state their top challenges. The results support what I’ve heard from our performance group members as well as consulting clients, with just six challenges making up the majority (more than

Man trying to pull money away from someone else
Ginny Gaylor
Chargebacks: Necessary evil or antiquated system?

If only the sofas, chairs and casegoods you sell could be packaged and shipped like other products you buy—safe and snug in packaging that protects it from the bumps, grinds and sharp objects of the world. Unfortunately, the packaging for furniture doesn’t always rival the luxurious protection of a smartphone,

Man standing in front of a large lit up star on a stage
Jonathan Schulman
Is your sales staff taking center stage?

Take control of the scene as soon as a customer walks through the door I’m not really good at talking about Christmas when it’s 90-plus degrees out, so my August edition may seem untimely, but I’m going with it anyway. There are few facts I hold to be self evident

Man walking on a structure of dominos
Nellie Akalp
Did you pick the right business structure?

Find out how restructuring could save you money. Nothing about this time of year—not the heat, nor your upcoming vacation nor next month’s Labor Day sale—brings to mind taxes. However, this might be the perfect time to talk about them. Indeed, this might be the perfect time to consider your

Business Planning
Andrea Hill
Making the time now to plan for later

2018 may be several pages removed on the calendar, but it’s closer than you think. The fourth quarter is almost here, and your head is probably in go-go-go-for-the-holidays mode. That’s good—you’re supposed to make hay while the sun shines, right? But the risk is you’ll wake up one day soon,

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