InsideFurniture

IS NEWNESS ENOUGH?: Newness alone may be insufficient

Is newness enough these days? For sure, affixing the “new” label on merchandise will capture attention. But, again, is newness enough?

Silly question, maybe, but not the important question, which is: Will the new goods sell? That means do the goods fulfill a discernable consumer demand?

The answer to this important question is critical. Because more than newness, the most important factor is whether a reasonable market exists for any new casegoods, upholstery or decorative accessories.

Even if the trend pundits declare a new sofa style or casegoods design constitutes a trend, it ain’t necessarily so until consumers buy it frequently in reasonable quantities.

While the new merchandise’s provenance is romantically important, actual knowledge that consumers are likely to buy it needs to be the primary determinant.

So how does a manufacturer know what consumers want? Easy in one difficult word: research and more research.

Guessing what consumers want can be costly, and probably more than the investment into consumer research that incorporates many factors: lifestyle, world view, dreams, wishes and aspirations to enumerate just a few.

Data is information, and information put to good use is knowledge. The furniture industry needs both, especially now.

If ever an opportunity for leadership exists, it’s being the purveyor of robust information that manufacturers can use to produce home furnishings with a greater certainty of sales success for merchants.

For the change to occur, retailers need to begin asking their suppliers now what other merchants bought the new goods, but what are the reasons and why the new goods will sell?

Better to be in the know than in the new.

SHORT BURSTS: Starting off the week with some strong points

Satisfactory business. Surprisingly and happily, some Tier 2 and Tier 3 retailers are doing well considering the dreadful economic context.

Apparently, their granular perspective of business affords important insights. Better to tweak a business with more facts to consider.

Another important factor is how smaller, hands-on merchants can harness the loyalty factor.

Well-established relationships with customers are investments now returning business from "friends" perceiving local merchants as more trusting and service-oriented than their larger brethren.

Customer loyalty ranks high, and so does finding new ways to provide top notch service to draw a distinction with competition. So what else is new?

One happy and hard working merchant said, “The rainy day is here and we’ve saved good relationships that are paying off in good business, considering how bad it is out there.”

Made in America. As a sustaining merchandising virtue, goods that are actually made in the United States are more attractive to discerning shoppers distrustful of China-produced merchandise.

Reports about tainted Chinese products have spooked many consumers, merchants said. In response, they are affixing a small American flag on hangtags as important cues that seem to be working.

Just how much a factor American made goods are at the High Point Market is worth watching.

Bad wrap? Some retailers are complaining about inferior Chinese fabric, especially rayon chenille.

Shadowing, ghosting and other visible effects are causing increased complaints from consumers.

Chances are some upholstery makers will get an ear full in High Point.

REMEMBERING LESLIE FISHBEIN

Wendee and I extend sincere condolences to Sam, Shirley and Jack, and all of Leslie’s family and close friends.

Let us savor the bittersweet confluence of all expressed memories warmly flowing about Leslie. (Leslie's image, left, appeared in the Denver Post.)

The heartfelt words testify to her personal dynamism, engaging charm, searing intelligence, eminent sense of fair play, astounding perception and bountiful enthusiasm.

For all of us calling Leslie a dear friend — and that’s many people near and far — her premature death diminishes us.

In the furniture industry family, as well as all people she touched directly and indirectly with her inimitable perkiness, her absence constitutes a palpable void. (See more industry remembrances in Furniture|Today.)

Fortunately, Leslie’s joyous radiance still glows, bathing all of us in her special light. Regardless of our relationship, — as an industry friend, Colorado chum or intermittent acquaintance — we are fortunate to have benefitted from our special interaction with a memorable ball of fire.

Leslie’s incisive wit — usually self-deprecating and, many times, punctuated with varying degrees of crafted sarcasm — always contained kernels of insight and pointed barbs if she perceived insincerity, patronization and injustice.

With Leslie, what you saw is what you got: Authenticity in the form of candor usually with emapthy. There was never any doubt where you stood with Leslie. She would tell you, like it or not, to which I can personally attest.

Guided by an internal compass directed to the greater good, Leslie served as a teacher who could combine empathy with love, even tough love.

I saw Leslie through the prism of the furniture industry. From this nearly three decade relationship, I can safely conclude what I observed and respected in her virtue also led her along all paths she walked and navigated.

In the furniture industry, Leslie was always one of the boys to a point. She never permitted anybody — men or women — to take her for granted or dismiss her in anyway. But we all took her for granite, and admired her indomitable strength.

Somewhere in Furniture Heaven — Leslie is probably quipping, “This place is friggin’ hell up here, don’t you know!? — Leslie is chortling and commiserating with other indomitable personalities, the likes of which include Rose Blumkin (Nebraska Furniture Mark) and Nat Ancell (Ethan Allen). Cut from the same enduring cloth, they are all enshrined in a special Pantheon of strong willed, compassionate, impatient, driving and uncompromising leaders.

Aside from furniture industry events and activities, among my best memories of Leslie involve accompanying her and Sam in their peripatetic journeys at furniture markets in High Point, Las Vegas and San Francisco.

As a metaphoric fly on the wall, I witnessed a superb team at work. It was a kind of charming Kabuki, seeing their mercantile pas de deux, a joyful yet serious dance to identify all prudent ways to keep Kacey Fine Furniture meaningful and viable.

Leslie told me that she attributed her strength to loving parents who instilled within her to acknowledge her attributes with humility, yet never apologize for respectfully working diligently to attain worthy objectives.

In so many ways, Leslie embodied that virtue we sadly acknowledge with our love and respect.

Farewell, Leslie.

IN MEMORIAM: Leslie Fishbein

Kacey Furniture's Leslie Fishbein dies

BlogNote: Appearing below are news stories from the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News.

Fishbein leaves memories of her wit, charity

By Howard Pankratz
The Denver Post, March 20

Denver businesswoman Leslie Fishbein, known for her wit, energy and business acumen, died Wednesday at Presbyterian/St. Luke's Hospital. She was 55.

Fishbein was taken to the hospital March 4 after suffering a severe reaction to an injection for chronic back pain.

"Leslie was a vibrant and loving member of our community as well as our family," her family said in a statement released through the hospital. "Her passing is a profound loss for all of us.

"We ask once again that we be allowed to grieve our loss privately," the family said.

Services for Fishbein will be at 3 p.m. Friday at Temple Emanuel, 51 Grape St., Rabbi Steven Foster said.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said Fishbein's death had taken one of the city's shining lights.

"Leslie Fishbein has been a surrogate sister to me for many years," Hickenlooper said. "While she will deservedly be remembered as a vital force in Denver's business and philanthropic communities, her vibrancy, warmth and humor are what her friends and family will miss most.

SEND IN THE P.R.I.C.K.S.: More sharp, creative thinking is necessary to prick comfort zones and complacent bubbles

Let me get to the prickly point: Our industry needs more P.R.I.C.K.S.!

That’s right, merchants, manufacturers and suppliers desperately require new pointed thinking, leading to action that produces substantive results in for form of:

Purposeful Responsibility Induces Continuous Knowledge Successes

How can more P.R.I.C.K.S. do the job now when so many previous pricks didn’t work out so well?

For starters, all the previous pricks were blunted and couldn’t prick the comfort bubbles of doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Some of those pricks are still poking around without much oomph.

With resolve, the new P.R.I.C.K.S. can poke a big hole in another trouble bubble inflated with fetid gases from too many merchants and manufacturers attempting to buy quick results instead of investing in well-planned action that produces long term results.

In other words, wield a firm P.R.I.C.K. and stop believing that buying cheap as opposed to what’s right for everyone concerned, most especially the consumer who pays the bills.

A HIGH POINT MARKET PICTURE: Worth a 1,000 retailers’ words

The convenient truth for the furniture industry is the multidimensional strength of the High Point Market.

For sure, the biggest and best merchants in the world always attend the market. So do many, but not enough so-called Tier 2 and Tier 3 retailers, if they want to make a merchandise difference.

Among North American retailers, my guess is about 1,000 merchants make the difference, with probably the upper half possessing the greatest influence and impact.

In this uncertain economy, most vendors are targeting the top 1,000 merchants, and really focusing on the upper third. Those 333 or so retailers are likely to be the vanguard of survivors.

Of course, the roster of survivors includes many scrappy and innovative smaller merchants who find ways to make a difference.

Given the rising costs of fuel and related economic considerations, more people will be homebodies, and that’s a significant blessing of this rotten economy for the furniture industry. Carpé Home, baby!

SMART PLANNING: Setting sights on the High Point Market advantages

Friends, family maintaining vigil for Leslie Fishbein at hospital

From today's Rocky Mountain News:

Friends, family maintaining vigil for Leslie Fishbein at hospital

By Lynn Bartels

Monday, March 10, 2008

Leslie Fishbein, known as the face of Kacey Fine Furniture's TV commercials, continues to cling to life. Her family and friends are keeping a bedside vigil at the hospital.

"They say there's no chance of recovery," former Denver City Councilwoman Joyce Foster said Sunday. "It's really sad to see such a dynamic woman in this situation."

Fishbein, 55, received an injection at a physician's office Tuesday to relieve pain caused by an earlier horseback-riding injury. But she suffered an unexpected reaction and went into cardiac arrest, friends said.

She was taken to Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center, where she remains a patient, spokeswoman Angie Anania said Sunday. She said no other information would be released.

Fishbein is president of Jack Barton Co., the parent company of Kacey Fine Furniture, whose ads she appears in. She joined the firm, founded in the 1950s by her parents, Jack and Shirley Barton, in 1976 after graduating from the University of Colorado.

Foster said that Fishbein's parents worked out every morning and then went to the office. They then worked with their daughter, and her husband, Sam Fishbein.

"People didn't know Leslie, but they felt like they knew her because she was in their bedroom every night," Foster said. "Her ads would be on TV when they were watching the news."

Rocky Miller, who owns an oil-and-gas company, grew up a block from Fishbein in Denver's Hilltop neighborhood. They attended Carson Elementary, Hill Junior High and graduated from George Washington High School in 1970.

"She was really smart and a lot of fun to be around," he said of their childhood days. "We kept in touch over the years. We laugh when we see each other. She's a pretty incredible person."

Fishbein's parents declined to comment. The family is active at Congregation Emanuel, where Foster's husband, Steven Foster, serves as rabbi.

"Her parents are pillars of our community," Joyce Foster said.

The Fosters visited the hospital again on Saturday evening.

"She is resting very peacefully," Foster said.

bartels@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5327

© Rocky Mountain News

THINKING ABOUT LESLIE: Her inner strength, spark, spunk and candor are the virtues to help her overcome her most challenging adversity

Join me in sending your most positive thoughts to help Leslie Fishbein return to her accustomed vibrancy all of her family and friends cherish.

She and husband Sam have been industry friends of my wife, Wendee, and I for more than 25 years.

Leslie, the president of Kacey Fine Furniture, Denver, lay in serious condition in a Mile High City hospital.

Here this morning’s Denver Post story:

Furniture exec taken off life-support

By Mike McPhee
The Denver Post

Article Last Updated: 03/08/2008 12:34:28 AM MST

Businesswoman Leslie Fishbein continued to cling to life Friday night after being removed from life-support following a failed medical procedure, according to friends of her family.

The bubbly Fishbein, one of the most recognizable faces in the metro area because of her television ads for her company, Kacey Fine Furniture, was admitted to Presbyterian/St. Luke's Hospital for emergency treatment on Tuesday. She had been given an injection for chronic back pain and suffered a serious reaction, the friends said. She was later placed on life-support, which was removed Friday evening.

A hospital spokeswoman, Angie Anania, would not confirm Fishbein's condition, other than to confirm Fishbein was being treated at the hospital and that her husband, Sam Fishbein, was nearby.

A cousin, Charles Goldstein, when reached by telephone, would not talk about Fishbein's condition, saying only in a tearful voice that "it's not my position to release the information."

Fishbein, whose happy and energetic manner has made her well-known both among TV audiences and on the charity fundraising circuit, runs the six-store furniture empire with her husband.

"She was just so full of life, so happy and positive," said friend Joyce Lozow, who traveled with Sam, Leslie and her parents to Israel two years ago. "Her family is everything to her. It was heartwarming to watch her care for her elderly parents."

Fishbein exercised regularly and had been an avid horseback rider until she injured her back in a fall in September 2002. It was that injury which caused her chronic pain and for which she was seeking treatment Tuesday. After the injury, she gave up horses and took up golf with the same fervor.

At her surprise 50th birthday party in 2002, her sister threw a party by serving hamburgers, French fries, licorice and M&Ms.

"All my favorite foods," Fishbein said.

She carried a jewel-encrusted plumber's plunger and remained unfazed that people knew she was 50.

"I'm delighted, considering the alternative and how lucky we are to be where we are," she told The Denver Post.

Fishbein was born and raised in southeast Denver, graduating from George Washington High School and the University of Colorado, where she was admitted into the Phi Beta Kappa honors society.

She recalled in a recent interview how she and friends rode horses to the former McDonalds, now a Boston Market, at South Colorado Boulevard and Mississippi Avenue.

She flirted with studying law but opted to join her parents, Jack and Shirley Barton, at their furniture company, Jack Barton Co., now the parent company of Kacey Fine Furniture.

She married Sam Fishbein 31 years ago. They have no children.

KEEPING FIGHTING SMART: Encouraging advice from a real fighter