Retail Views
Bruce Aronson and his family have been in the outdoor industry since 1952. Their single location store is the largest specialty outdoor furniture retail store in the New Orleans area. Although Bruce has served as VP of The Casual Furniture Retailers Association and has been active in the industry for many years, he does not claim to be any less confused by retail than any other retailer out there.
A To Do List To Make Retailers Even Crazier
As if retail isn’t hard enough, I am requesting that manufacturers drive retailers even crazier by doing the following ten things to us: Please nest lots of pieces in a carton and leave off all that pesky protective wrap. That way the pieces will scratch each other during shipping and we will have to touch them all up before we can show or deliver them.As a coroll... Read More
Comments (0)Our Competition Is Hiding In Our Mailboxes
In the background there is a cove with blue/green water lapping gently at the shore. The sand is the color of a sweet cup of coffee au lait. Beyond the water, mountains shrouded in a morning haze rise into the air. This is the view from your private terrace with the marble floors and stone balustrades. The gentle sea breeze blowing across the terrace makes your furniture on the terrace even m... Read More
Comments (1)When The Design Is All Hat!
Last year I took a beach vacation where a group of friends and I rented a private home right on Pensacola Beach. We sort of rented the house sight unseen. We did see the outside of the house in person. It was very contemporary with several big porches on the backing facing the water. We only saw the inside via a virtual web tour. Thank goodness, the interior of the house lived up to our expe... Read More
Comments (0)Three Things Specialty Furniture Stores Should Say
Recently, I found an article at the website SmartMoney.com in the "Spending:Ripoffs" section titled “10 Things a Furniture Won’t Tell You.” I expected and found a list which presented furniture store policies in the most pejorative way possible. When I read it, my first reaction was to take to the bully pulpit and defend specialty furniture stores against every point made. Upon furth... Read More
Comments (5)This Little Piggy Went To Atlanta
Ever since I began working with my dad at the store, he got me into the habit of going to gift shows. Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Atlanta: name one and between us we have shopped it, probably more than once just in case we had a headache the first time through. Many owners of outdoor furniture specialty stores don’t see the value of shopping these markets. After all,... Read More
Comments (6)Do You Hear What I Hear?
Years ago, my father played a weekly game of poker with a group of his friends. Usually it was at our house and because I was pretty young, they would let me hang around but never let me play. The memory of those weekly games has blended together over time; however, I remember one night vividly. The pot had gotten bigger than normal and one of the players was betting and raising a lot. At the... Read More
Comments (2)Happy Days Are Here Again - - - Almost - - - Maybe
The holidays are upon us - - - no news to anyone. Anyway, is it just me or is there a sense of confidence in the air? For example, this week the newspaper quoted high-end cosmetic companies as saying that after a hiatus, their customers are coming back and buying their most expensive emollients. Good stuff because after the economic collapse their customers started shopping for less expensive... Read More
Comments (1)How big is a Big Box, anyway?
If you want to have some fun and perhaps a little ego boost, I suggest you read the article “Sales dipped in ’09 for all of the Top 5 big box retailers” in the November, 2010 issue of Casual Living. I always look forward to this annual article when it estimates the annual outdoor furniture sales of the big boxes. This year’s article was even more interesting because it shows business at big b... Read More
Comments (5)Credit Card Reward Points
My father always told me that if I leave money on the table in a poker game people would always want to come back and play with me. Then he would also add, “Son, just never leave too much.” After a recent conversation with a rep, I realized I was leaving too much money on the proverbial table. The rep told me that one of my fellow retailers was on an extended trip out of the country that he h... Read More
Comments (2)Do you belong to the Better Business Bureau?
We have been a member of the Better Business Bureau for years. We joined for one reason: to gain credibility in the eyes of our customers. Several years ago I was honored to be asked to serve on the board of the Bureau. As a board member, I have learned what is considered appropriate advertising, how to handle consumer complaints, and also what I needed in my return policy, among other things. I t... Read More
Comments (2)Market Impressions
I think market was well attended; but, it was hard to tell because I didn’t see herds of buyers in any one showroom. Instead, the crowd seemed to be evenly dispersed everywhere including, thank goodness, the temporary floor. The biggest surprise was to see so much innovation even in the face of a still questionable economy. I can’t think of a show in the recent past that had so many fresh... Read More
Comments (0)iPad Catalogs
n my last blog, I talked about using new technology in our industry. Specifically, I opined that manufacturers should create apps for the iPad which would allow us to browse their catalogs electronically on an iPad. As I said in that blog, the advantages of using an iPad rather than a computer for this are that the iPad is more portable, less expensive, and doesn't need to be connected to the... Read More
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