Reading in the trade journals, I was amazed to see that the 119-store Haverty's chain (based in Atlanta) shows a positive trend in store sales (only 2% same store sales), but in a recessionary climate, that's impressive. But what really just totally blew me away was that they have increased their gross profit margins the past few years from 46% to 52%, which is the highest I have ever seen from a retailer. (FYI, I run my store at far less than that). How do they do that? Private label product obviously, and buy low, sell high. The Sofa they sell for $ 999 "on sale" costs them around $ 480 for example. They're making money....good for them.