“Every business owner has an exit strategy—even if they haven’t planned one.” For many private and family-owned businesses, daily operations consume nearly all available time. Sales, employees, customers, supply chain issues, and cash flow naturally take priority over long-term planning. Yet one question eventually confronts every business owner: What happens
Successful retail businesses understand a powerful, enduring truth: people are the heart of long-term growth. Preparing tomorrow’s leaders isn’t just about filling open positions; it’s an investment in adaptability, innovation, and sustainable progress. Industry experts agree that strong leadership development and effective succession planning give retailers a crucial edge in
Most furniture store owners spend decades building their businesses, cultivating vendor relationships, earning lenders’ trust, and developing a loyal customer base. Yet when it comes to planning for what happens next, far too many leave that work undone. Here’s the hard truth: without a clear succession plan, everything you’ve built
Strengthen Your Business While Preserving Family Harmony Compensation planning in a retail furniture business often feels more like an art than a science. You’re balancing the need to motivate and retain top talent—family and non-family—while ensuring the business remains profitable. For family-owned furniture retailers, the conversation becomes even more layered.
Family businesses form the backbone of the home furnishings industry. Stepping into a leadership role within such an enterprise brings a unique blend of privilege, responsibility, legacy, and complexity. Insights from several seasoned leaders offer valuable guidance for anyone taking on or preparing for such a role. Their experiences shed
Running a family business comes with a unique mix of opportunities and challenges. You’re not just making business decisions— you’re navigating family relationships, personalities, communication styles, history, emotions, and expectations. That’s where leadership assessments can be especially helpful. Leadership assessments give families a more objective way to understand what’s really
More important, what should they do? At a peer group meeting of eight successful construction industry CEOs years ago, the members began discussing how to get the most out of an industry standard software package. One CEO asked another a question about how to key in data to produce a
In Shakespeare’s King Lear, an aging king divides his kingdom among his daughters based on flattery. The daughter who speaks honestly is disowned, and Lear ultimately loses everything. This story is a cautionary tale for family furniture business owners: poor succession can erode not only the business you’ve built but
“We need to talk.” Those four words can be intimidating in any relationship. In family-run furniture businesses, they can feel even heavier—especially when what you need to say is: “Mom, Dad, I’m ready to lead.” For decades, your parents have poured their energy into building the store, the brand, and
Longevity is one of the most defining shifts of our time. Americans are living longer, healthier lives than ever before, and that reality is reshaping how family-owned and closely held businesses must approach succession planning, leadership, and financial planning for home furnishings retailers, in particular, where family involvement runs deep
Furniture warehouses are the backbone of every successful home furnishings retailer. They receive, store, organize, and distribute thousands of products
Customer expectations in the furniture industry continue to evolve. These days, they compare every brand to big players like Amazon,
How AI is reshaping consumer behavior, redefining the modern retail journey The home goods shoppers no longer discover products the
The trade environment for home furnishings retailers has rarely been more complex or more consequential. For many businesses, tariffs are
In furniture retail, delivery damage isn’t just a logistical hiccup—it’s a broken promise. The customer’s excitement turns to disappointment, the
Leveling the Playing Field: Tariff Enforcement and the Fight for Fair Competition Join Home Furnishings Association CEO Peter Theran for a discussion with Keith Koenig,
Inventory Management Transformation: The New Retail Back End Behind every great customer experience is an operation that runs smoothly. Join Peter Theran, HFA CEO, for
