Passion for furniture makes for vibrant content

But can this same passion extend to today’s consumers so they’ll invest in quality products from legacy brands?

HIGH POINT — Among my more endearing memories of working with the old team at Furniture Today in years past was the many discussions we had about product and style trends that caught our eye. Or it might be issues impacting the industry in general, ranging from price increases and sourcing logjams to traffic and sales at retail.

Often these conversations would be well documented on video each week with our resident furniture experts the stars of the show. After realizing the depth and passion we all shared on those and other subjects — drilled down even further to things like wood species and finishes courtesy of yours truly — we realized we just couldn’t help ourselves. Thus, the term furniture nerds was born — and stuck.

We have a version of this here at Home News Now, largely thanks to our resident columnists and industry experts, Ray Allegrezza and Brian Carroll. Check out the level of depth these writers share with the industry on issues ranging from the impact of logistics disruptions on the industry courtesy of Ray Allegrezza to the level of depth Mr. Carroll shares on furniture exhibits he takes time to visit and write about on well-earned vacations in Europe.

I mean who else in the industry — or in their right mind — would take the time to visit the furniture retail scene in Galway, Ireland, or furniture exhibits in Milan and Vienna? Brian Carroll — whom I’ve respectfully just invited to the realm of furniture nerds — that’s who. (Actually, Brian gets credit for being a furniture nerd for much longer than almost everyone here on staff.)

Even our copy editor, Cindy Sheaffer, just couldn’t wait to visit local Arhaus or Avocado Bedding storefronts on a trip last year to Colorado, where she took photos, some of which we ended up using in our newsletters.

Of course, there’s a lot of this type of passion in the industry among those who travel to shows and famous cities, getting inspiration and ideas for some of their newest products.

For us here at Home News Now, it of course provides noteworthy content for our equally furniture-and bedding-obsessed readers. I’m among the nerds and here’s an example, finishes and wood species aside. A year ago this past September, on our way back from our high school reunion, I had to ask a friend to stop at a Bob’s Discount Furniture store along Route 13 in Dover, Delaware. Realize I had never been in a Bob’s store before and promised it would only take a few minutes. About a half hour later, I emerged with a couple of dozen images taken inside the store with management’s permission. Some of those shots even made it into one of Brian Carroll’s columns that mentioned Bob’s aggressive store expansion.

All this came to mind when I had what could be one of the ultimate furniture nerd conversations of all time with an industry friend at the recently concluded High Point Market. The subject? Wait for it … what are some of your favorite furniture pieces in your house?

That’s right. In case you missed it the first time, what are some of your favorite furniture pieces in your house?

OK, I’ll let the cat out of the bag. The conversation was with Adam Tilley, a true furniture nerd who also is one of the best case goods development guys in the business. He and I spoke on this subject of our favorite furniture pieces for at least 10 minutes at the Magnussen showroom during the October market.

And this was far from the end of the conversation. I asked two other good friends in the industry the same question right after market, Powell Slaughter and Ed Tashjian, two other esteemed furniture nerds. It’s true. We found ourselves all sharing spirited and dare I say jovial anecdotes about the renowned furniture brands we have collected over the years in our homes.

Our collective lists included well-known and respected industry stalwarts such as Bassett, Thomasville, Henkel Harris, Classic Leather, Henredon, Empire Furniture, American of Martinsville, Fine Furniture Design, West Bros., Harden Furniture, Bernhardt, Oscar de la Renta, White of Mebane, Klaussner and more. While some of these names still exist, others are no longer with us, or at least are no longer a major presence in the residential part of the industry.

Thus, it made us consider what will be the heirlooms of the future? Having been to so many showrooms at the High Point Market, I realized how much commodity product is out there, which of course is a good thing for the consumer, particularly those who don’t care about brands and are shopping mostly on price. There’s obviously a considerable number of those shoppers in the market and it’s also one of the reasons that retailers that have de-emphasized brands to place their own company names at the forefront.

Obviously that’s a good marketing strategy. Still, an industry without brands is one that likely will continue to push more and more commodity product at least in the consumer’s mind. Even grocery store brands are not top of mind, particularly among those consumers who are willing to spend more on certain products ranging from bread and cereal to coffee and bathroom tissue. The same is true of department stores, where consumers are willing to pay a premium on anything from clothing to perfume and jewelry. They are not looking for the store brand but instead one that has a history and perceived longevity in the marketplace.

So will consumers continue to shop for brands in the furniture industry? That depends on whom you ask, but the subject came up in the discussion amongst us fellow furniture nerds. Some of the names we had not collected, but aspired to, include Stickley, Hooker, Lexington, Kincaid, Hekman, Century, Hickory White, EJ Victor, Jonathan Charles and Sherrill, to name several. Those and others can all be found at luxury retail stores and other retailers that still offer well-known brands.

Of course, price will always be a factor even when shopping for these storied lines. The question is given the type of expense involved at the upper-middle to upper end that these brands represent, will others also be in the market for these names? And perhaps more importantly, what will these brands do to tell their story and make sure the customer knows who they are and what they represent? The last thing we want to see is for these types of companies to fade from view and into the dustbin of history like so many other beloved names in the industry.