2014 February Business Climate
February Retail Sales
In early March, Hearth & Home faxed a survey to 2,117 specialty retailers of hearth, barbecue and patio products asking them to compare February 2014 sales to February 2013. The accompanying charts and selected comments are from the 208 useable returns.
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Weather Report |
Consumer Confidence |
Stock Watch |
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For the eighth consecutive month at least 60 percent of hearth retailers reported better month/year over month/year results. |
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13 MONTH YEAR-OVER-YEAR RETAILER SALES |
Another decent month, with all four product categories showing favorable comparables over February 2013.
Retailer Comments
Northeast
Connecticut: “Spotty foot traffic, but the ones that are coming in are buying. Gas fireplace sales are strong, and of course, fuel.”
Connecticut: “Sales slowed, but still coming. Ending the winter season strong. Cold temps and high oil paid off. Hard to get pellets though, and pellet customers are frustrated.”
Maine: “We’re seeing shortages in pellet fuel and cordwood.”
Maine: “Pellet sales remain steady. Cold temperatures along with high oil and propane prices are to thank. The long winter may affect patio and barbecue sales this spring.”
New Jersey: (Hearth) “Sales still positive, but invoicing decreased due to snowy/ icy conditions making it difficult to complete installations. Outlook is still strong.”
Massachusetts: (Hearth) “Still very busy as the winter season typi- cally comes to an end. Sales were way up this February. Traffic is very steady.”
New York: (BBQ, Spas) “Weekly snow storms have had a big effect on traffic and sales. The good news is spring is on the way.”
New York: (Hearth, BBQ, Spas) “February was our first down month in at least a year. Cold weather and a long winter are having a major impact.”
New York: “Although the numbers are down for February, we are seeing a considerable amount of activity in the building/remodeling trade and expect a busy spring in gas fireplace sales.”
Pennsylvania: “Coal, wood, propane and pellets are all in short supply. Pellet stove sales will suffer for that fact next season.”
Pennsylvania: (Hearth, BBQ) “Best January/February ever. Bone chilling cold, high fuel prices and pent-up demand. The trifecta.”
Pennsylvania: (Hearth) “Sales, installations and service are up 21 percent. Very optimistic for 2014, but always cautious.”
Pennsylvania: (Hearth) “The first eight months of our fiscal year are up eight percent.”
Pennsylvania: (Patio) “Sales are down due to extreme cold weather and snow, snow, snow.”
Pennsylvania: “Cold weather, out of pellets, customers are out of wood. LP companies are not setting up new customers. Can’t sell new pellet stoves, wood or gas without fuel.”
Rhode Island: (Hearth, Patio, BBQ, Spas) “Strong start to the year. Pellet stove sales very robust.”
Vermont: “Hearth appliances are up. Venting, etc., is down, so we’ve had no change from last year.”
Weather Report
For the following weather charts, the numbers for each state reflect the temperature ranking for the period since records began in 1895.
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Arizona experienced its third warmest February in 120 years, but only five other states – Florida, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California – had temperatures that were above average or warmer. Temperatures in 22 states were below average. |
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California saw record warm average temperatures for the three-month period December 2013 to February 2014, and it was the fourth hottest period in Arizona. Oregon, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Florida were the only other states above average. At the other end of the rankings, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan were much below average for the period. |
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South
Arkansas: (Hearth) “Very slow retail month. No floor traffic. Slow start to 2014.”
Georgia: “Unsure what happened here in north Georgia, but sales for both barbecue and hearth went through the roof in February.”
North Carolina: (Hearth, Patio, BBQ) “We have our fingers crossed that (the positive numbers) may be a trend, but we have been disappointed before.”
Oklahoma: “Thanks to propane prices, we had a great February.”
Tennessee: (Hearth, BBQ) “Best February ever. Nothing like very cold, bad weather. Bad for golf, great for business.”
Texas: (Hearth, BBQ) “Winter has been awesome for hearth product sales, but we are ready for spring – now.”
Midwest
Illinois: (Hearth) “Too cold for customers to shop. When it warms, people come in.”
Illinois: (Hearth) “Because of the cold weather, many customers didn’t come to the store, but we had a lot of service calls.” Indiana: “Propane prices almost doubled wood and pellet stove sales.”
Michigan: “Cold, snowy and high LP prices, but traffic still slow.”
Michigan: “Record cold temperatures and outrageous propane prices are fueling record pellet and wood stove sales.”
Missouri: (BBQ, Spas) “Even if it is cold out, if the sun is shining people are out looking, touching, feeling, buying. Keep on shining, sun.”
Ohio: “By far our best February ever. Stove sales up 64 percent; pellet fuel sales up 119 percent. Very cold and sky-high propane prices drove lots of business. Pellet supply is very thin, but we were the only ones within a two-hour drive with stock.”
Ohio: (Hearth) “We have been pleasantly surprised at the significant increase in February sales. The hard winter has people thinking about the cold instead of spring. Nice, strong start to 2014.”
Wisconsin: (Hearth) “Both January and February sales were more typical of fall rush than late winter. Strong sales are continuing into March.”
Wisconsin: (Hearth) “For the first two months of the year, our sales have increased 100 percent. We’re not complaining.”
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A reading above 90 indicates the economy is on solid footing; above 100 signals strong growth. The Index is based on a probability-design random sample conducted for The Conference Board by The Nielsen Company.
The Index is based on a probability-design random sample conducted for The Conference Board by The Nielsen Company.
West
Arizona: “Where did winter go? Too warm in the North Country for stove sales.”
California: (Hearth, BBQ) “February got warmer. Overall we’re up 15 percent.”
California: (Patio) “Very good in the desert cities.”
California: (Hearth, BBQ) “Things were looking great and then – we had summer temperatures in January. We completely lost our winter season this year due to the weather. Let’s hope that remodels and new homes will pick up the slack.”
California: (Hearth, Patio, BBQ, Spas) “It was the year that skipped winter. No rain for 93 days, 55 degrees at night, 70 degrees during the day.”
California: (Hearth, BBQ) “February’s warm weather decreased overall sales. Fireplace sales were up because housing is up.”
Oregon: (Hearth, BBQ) “Strong gas month. Interest in outdoor (products) has begun.”
Utah: (Patio, Spas) “Overall we’re down 10 percent from last year.”
Washington: (Hearth) “Up 20 percent over our five-year average.”
Washington: “(Hearth up) – weather was a major factor.”
Canada
Alberta: (Hearth) “Last February was the worst in our history, so up 26 percent isn’t great, but it’s definitely going in the right direction.”
British Columbia: (Hearth, BBQ, Spas) “February started slow, but finished with a bang. Overall sales were up 140 percent. 2014 is looking good.”
British Columbia: (Hearth) “Typical February. Sporadic sales.”
Ontario: (Hearth, BBQ) “Cold, bitter weather equaled flat sales.”
Ontario: “The cost of propane nearly doubled here in central Ontario, and has created interest in wood and pellets.”
Ontario: (Hearth, Patio, BBQ) “Very fortunate to equal last year considering the number of days that our roads were closed due to winter storms.”
Ontario: (BBQ) “Very cold weather equals very poor sales.”
Stock Watch
| COMPANY – EXCHANGE | SYMBOL | 52 WEEK | Week Ending | % CHANGE | MARKET CAPITALIZATION | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | Low | 31-Jan-14 | 28-Feb-14 | 4 Week | 26 Week | 52 Week | ($000,000) | ||
| Furniture Brands International (d) | FBNIQ | 0.87 | 0.06 | 0.07 | 0.08 | 7.3% | NA | NA | $0.6 |
| HNI Corporation (a) | HNI | 40.73 | 30.73 | 34.31 | 35.55 | 3.6% | 6.2% | 13.7% | $1,599.0 |
| Pool Corporation (b) | POOL | 59.90 | 45.30 | 54.18 | 58.46 | 7.9% | 12.2% | 27.0% | $2,631.3 |
| Restoration Hardware Holdings (a)(c) | RH | 78.50 | 32.02 | 56.74 | 67.72 | 19.4% | -2.6% | 80.3% | $2,635.0 |
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(a) = New York Stock Exchange St. Louis - November 22, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Furniture Brands International announced today that the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware has declared an affiliate of KPS Capital Partners, LP ("KPS") as the winning bidder in the auction to acquire substantially all of the company's assets. Furniture Brands and KPS expect to complete the transaction in the next several business days. |
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