Home Economics
Furniture Industry Is Feeling the Pinch

By Jura Koncius
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 3, 2008

A few Sundays ago, Shirley Harjes stopped by the Ethan Allen store in Vienna on her way home from church to shop for two living room chairs for her Reston condo. She considered visiting other retailers but found herself back at Ethan Allen the next day. She bought the chairs just hours before a 5 percent across-the-board price increase went into effect.

Why not comparison shop? "I decided to go with a store nearby instead of spending more money on gas," says Harjes, who also liked the bright floral pattern they suggested for her two chairs.

The furniture business, like much of the consumer sector, has suffered in the past few years and continues to struggle. Sure, there are still people buying entertainment units and desks, but in most cases they come into a store on a mission, not just to window shop.

"It's not pretty out there," says Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group, a firm that studies consumer behavior. Beemer's latest monthly Furniture Buying Index, which tracks consumers' shopping habits, reported the lowest demand for furniture since he began compiling the index in 1992.

As the economy continues to sour, Washingtonians are sticking closer to home for furniture or are shopping online. It's not just the scary prices at the pump. Call it June gloom.

"It was either pouring or almost 100 degrees," says furniture manufacturer and retailer Mitchell Gold. The one-year-old Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams store on trendy 14th Street NW was handily exceeding sales goals until the rains came last month, and then came a tumble of other bad tidings. "With prices of everything -- hotel rooms, butter and transportation -- going up, everyone became more cautious," Gold said.

Ann Johnson, Crate and Barrel's area furniture manager, says she has noticed a change. "People are sticking with what they need. They buy a bed; they might not buy the nightstand until later." Things aren't as bad here as in the rest of the country, but retailers say they've noticed fewer shoppers in stores. Those who do show up know it's a buyers' market.

"People are still out there looking for the perfect sofa," says Jeff Goldstein, president of Desi Living Innovations, which sells fabric and leather sofas and chairs in Rockville and Pentagon Row. "You need the right look, the right service, the right product at the right price."

Some shoppers are taking a stab at negotiating prices as though they were buying a car. (In some cases, it could be worth a try.) Others ask for discounts if they pay cash. At Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, clients pepper salespeople with questions about durability, warranties and green attributes. At Belfort Furniture in Dulles, customers want help creating floor plans.

Stores, in turn, are adding extra services to help close a deal. Retailers have beefed up design departments and added in-home consultations; others promote payment plans. Goldstein, a former Hecht's executive, recently took a cue from the cosmetics industry and offered a gift-with-purchase deal. If you bought a sectional, you got a free cocktail bench. "People could not resist," he says.

For some consumers, it's still shopping as usual. "I'm cheap no matter what the economic situation is," says Jill Rabach, who lives in Arlington. "A furniture store in Maryland would not even respond to a request for a price quote. I figure if they don't want my business, I will go elsewhere." She did, buying bedroom furniture online at Comfort Source.

Chris Miklovis, an Arlington real estate appraiser with school-age children, was finalizing choices for a new sectional at Goldstein's Arlington store last week. "We've been thinking about it for about a year," he says. "The current economic situation should have affected our decision, but it didn't. We just have to replace our old stuff."

Certain situations make furniture a need, not a want. Last week at Clarendon's Crate and Barrel, Shelby Myers, a 22-year-old teacher and first-time homeowner, needed furniture for an Ashburn condo she got at a foreclosure sale. Patrick Rathbone, who manages Matchbox bistro in Chinatown, ended a marriage with no furniture. "I bought a couch and upholstered chair off Craigslist for $350," says Rathbone, who has a new condo in Rosslyn. "But I needed a bed, and I saw Crate and Barrel was having a sale."

For international residents, the weakened U.S. economy has provided bargains. Dora Trogadi and husband Athanasios Floros, Greek diplomats living in the District's American University Park neighborhood, ride bikes to work. But they drove to Belfort to buy a dining room table, china cabinet and chairs. "The furniture here is so much cheaper than in Greece," Trogadi says. "These economic things come in cycles, and you never know where we'll be in five years."

Industry experts don't expect things to get better until the end of this year or mid-2009. But Michael Huber, chairman of Belfort, located in fast-growing Loudoun County, which has a median household income of $99,371, is waiting it out. "We know that right now there are so many homes in our area that are literally empty of furniture. There is a latent demand out there, and I think we are about to go into a nesting cycle."