Hearth & Home December 2017

Who Reads Hearth & Home?
Hlodver Olafsson, for one!

Richmond, Virginia

Occupation: President, Jensen Leisure Furniture

Special Interests/Hobbies (interests beyond work): “Fly fishing, golf.”

Problems/Issues Facing the Patio Furnishings Industry: “The future of the Specialty Retailer in a market of growing e-commerce/online furniture sales.”

Challenges: “Understanding how to communicate/sell to the new generations (Millennials). Transportation/freight costs will continue to be high; we need to be smarter developing products with transportation cost and freight claims in mind.”

Key Trends in the Industry Today: “Growing market of mixed material products. Indoor continues going outdoor, and outdoor moving indoors.”

Forecast for the Patio Furnishings Industry in 2018: “We felt more optimism for the season from dealers at the Casual Market this year than in previous years. Opportunities are in a growing market of luxury furniture.”

Years Reading Hearth & Home: “I have been reading Hearth & Home for over 10 years.”

Reasons for Reading Hearth & Home: “Hearth & Home is good reading. Industry news, the interviews or “chats”, and surveys are always interesting. Great photography, and many good articles on trends in design, colors, and the outdoors.”

Article(s) Ideas: “Survey on how the outdoor market is going to develop over the next 10 years.”

Perspective:
Barbecue Drives
Traffic & Tickets

We’ve heard from a number of patio and hearth retailers over the past few years that, while tickets are up, traffic is down. Not a good sign, but no one ever said that driving traffic was easy, or inexpensive.

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The Evolution of Danny Jelley

By Tom Lassiter

From product design, to tracking trends, choosing fabrics and managing a sales team, Danny Jelley can do it all – well.

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Most Important Asset?

By Mark Brock

Specialty retailers agree it’s their employees, but finding the right ones is quite a challenge.

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2017 Retail: Past & Future

By Richard Wright

Hearth & Home interviewed 48 specialty retailers of hearth, patio and barbecue products throughout the U.S. to determine how well they fared in 2017. For some it was a great year, for some it was a bad year, and for most it was an acceptable year.

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HEARTH: A Good Year for Most

By Bill Sendelback

It has been a surprisingly good year for hearth products, as well as a break-out year for sales of electric fireplaces through the specialty channel.

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Core Values

By Bill Sendelback

It’s a family affair at Hearth & Home in Mount Prospect, Illinois, a business that began in 1971 with a mission of taking care of its customers.

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