Showroom talking points: Counting our blessings and embracing imperfections
This week’s roundup of news and notes specific to our industry finds an interesting blend of luck, tragedy, hope and climate awareness. First, the luck. …
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.
Jamie Lee Curtis and Niraj Shah: A study in contrasts
It’s my intuition that most of Home News Now’s readership are leaders of various sorts. Based on the comments I’ve received over the past few …
A charcuterie board of furniture biz news bytes: Conn’s, B. Riley and Scherer & Sons
When no column idea tickles the little gray cells, my pro move is to hit the research databases and shake a few trees to see …
Back to the future: malls, train heists … pirates?
If the past is a prison, I suggest that there’s been some sort of jailbreak. In last week’s news, I read of the heady returns …
Licensing, leveraging and layoffs: the advantages of being ‘asset light’
What do Conn’s, Badcock, Sports Illustrated and Shaquille O’Neal have in common? You’re going to need a beer for this answer, and maybe a finger or …
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 …
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 …
