25 April 2008
Housing crisis hits furniture industry hard
Posted by Roger under: Industry Trends .
Housing crisis hits furniture industry hard
There is a pretty decent, if not depressing article on The Press-Enterprise that sums up whats going on in the furniture industry in the US at the moment.
“For eight years, business was OK,” said Kim, whose store is near Riverside’s busy Galleria at Tyler mall retail center. “Last year it started getting a little bad, but this is the worst it’s ever been, and I’ve been doing this 28 years.”
“Inland economist John Husing said the severity of the current housing bust took a lot of people by surprise. It goes beyond the simple bursting of a bubble, he said.”
“All of us expected a housing slowdown, but didn’t expect the market to virtually stop,” Husing said. “The thing we all missed was the seizing up of the credit markets all over the world.”
A bit grim, eh? I agree. But there is some gems of advice in there which I would are worth considering.
“I’m thinking, should I move to someplace with cheaper rent, or carry more unique items?” Kim asked.”
I don’t know about the cheaper rent, but I do know now it the time to be looking into carrying more unique items. If you were thinking about innovating, trying a new line, or picking up some smalls for the first time, maybe now is the time to do so…
Other Inland retailers say they’re digging in and tweaking the way they operate, hoping to ride out the storm.
Tweaking the way you operate may be worth considering. Maybe now is the time to turn your vendor into your partner, develop a network of sales agents and representatives or even considering opening a website to sell online.
The full text of the article can be found here:
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