You are always going to have people who simply cannot afford high quality furniture that will last a decade or more. It isn't for everyone because it is simply out of reach for some. But I think the pandemic also created a huge additonal market for it. People who had never before worked from home or even had the option to, were suddenly faced with having to work from home with little or no advance notice. The option of waiting for 9 months for a desk or desk chair or file cabinet or other furniture that would make a home office environment "look" good on Zoom for meetings couldn't wait 9 months or a year. The stuff sky rocketed in price for even cheap stuff, which was cheap in construciton but no longer in price. Demand was crazy and people bought what they could get. Now I think you will see tons of this stuff being replaced or maybe just not used very much so it won't get much wear and tear, or it will end up at yard sales and land fills. But it was a rather unique time and I can see how a Hancock and Moore chair for the office gave way to "I need something to sit in while i am on a zoom call". Hopefully as makers get caught up people go back to furnishing the way they used to, more will be willing and able to wait for the quality pieces they want.
You are correct, we were swamped with requests and sold off a lot of stock inventory quickly.
Now we are back to “when is there going to be a sale?” A lot of people don’t realize the backlogs are still 6 months or longer …. So the manufactures are not really looking to load up more backlog at lower margins.
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.
Here's a good article in the N.Y. Times about the newer "fast" (like fast food) furniture. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/31/r...sultPosition=2
"The mass-produced furniture that sold furiously during the pandemic could soon be clogging landfills."
Delays in furniture delivery are like everything else these days and of course Covid plays a big role in this. I am in the food delivery business and I see it all the time in restaurants, from not having product in stock to delays in food delivery. Fortunately, waiting for furniture is not a major concern (such as food is) but still an inconvenience nonetheless.
We just had a Taylor King order ship today to our store that was ordered on January 11th, 2022. That was ten months and a couple of days to complete. I think that is too long and we are adjusting accordingly to floor stock suppliers that can get product to us quicker. While we like everything about Taylor King, and they offer a good price/build value that is one of the best in the industry, they simply cannot get their build times down. Most customers don't want to wait that long, nor do I to fill a spot on the floor when one sells off the showroom. The average industry time right now is 6 months, some are getting them done in 5 months and that is more reasonable, though a far cry from pre-covid times of 6 to 8 weeks.
One of the reasons we are brining in Sherrill is they invested heavily in new production facilities and are promising 5 months delivery, with similar price/build to Taylor King and Hancock and Moore. We should have the first of our floor models soon and will see how their productions times are when they arrive.
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/united-...le-they-slept/
United Furniture is facing a lawsuit from its employees after it fired 2,700 workers before Thanksgiving via email and text messages sent during the "middle of the night."
I wonder if something is changing in the furniture industry.
Doubtful that is indicative of the furniture industry, that's more like one operator that is going bankrupt. The only time I have seen that middle of the night stuff is when they have run out of cash and the owners have left town.
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.
The workers may win their lawsuit, but is there any cash remaining to pay them anything?
Not sure why workers would win a lawsuit for being fired in mass. It is not like they were discriminated against for their race, sexual orientation, etc. Can you win a lawsuit because he fired them in the middle of the night because it was a "mean" thing to do? It sucks but there is no crying in baseball. Sounds to me like a lawyer is taking advantage of people when they are highly agitated.