The plot thickens for players in the Conn’s-Badcock deal
Since the late-December acquisition of Badcock by Conn’s, the dark clouds have been gathering over the principal players in the deal, including the seller, Franchise …
Author: Brian Carroll
Brian Carroll covered the international home furnishings industry for 15 years as a reporter, editor and photographer. He chairs the Department of Communication at Berry College in Northwest Georgia, where he has been a professor since 2003.
Cologne fair spotlights sustainability and hospitality theme
COLOGNE, Germany — Oh, were this dateline accurate and true. One of the annual highlights of covering case goods internationally for so many years was …
Motive, means, opportunity: Pinboarding the mystery of the Conn’s-Badcock deal
Lee Child, the prolific writer of the Jack Reacher series of page-turners, said that the way to write a thriller is “to ask a question …
A holiday visit from St. Wanek
‘Twas the night before the Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yule/Boxing Day/Christmas festive cycle, when all through the exquisitely decorated, midcentury modern-furnished home, not an interest rate was stirring, not even the …
Musings on the promises of AI and what it can do for us humans
We end the calendar year with a bunch of coal in our stockings: bankruptcies, rising loan rates, diminishing demand for discretionary goods, and the specter …
What’s behind the bankruptcies of the past year?
Almost exactly a year ago, more than 2,700 furniture factory workers, truck drivers and office personnel got the big bald turkey of an email that …
Luxury retailers create bespoke ‘experiences’
At the upper end, the focus is on offering desirability, custom design and a memorable experience for the customer The idea of buying and transacting …
Musings on Italy, where many fine things have originated, including Natuzzi
FIRENZE, Italy — My family marked the occasion of the recent High Point Market by leaving the country. Fortunately for this column, we escaped to …
A few agenda items for discussion during the fall High Point Market
Topics include the tectonic shifts at retail, the modern and minimalist style juggernaut and the threat from travel The Agenda-Setting Theory of communication suggests that …
Sharing a few postcards from markets past
HIGH POINT — Although I do not miss the daily grind of covering the October furniture market here, I recall with no small degree of …
