Upper-end furnishing stores doing fine
Who says the home furnishings business is hurting?
"Our business is up 9 percent, year to date," reported Scott Price, president of Toms-Price Home Furnishings, with locations in Wheaton and Skokie. "Certainly it's kind of scary out there, but our experience has been pretty good. We've had strong traffic and interest."
"If people want it, they buy it," said Fern Allison, president and owner of Lakeside Interiors, an interior design firm in Wilmette. She added her business has remained unaffected by talk of recession and the mortgage-related credit crisis.
According to figures released Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau, sales at furniture and home furnishings stores in March slumped to $9.7 billion, a 7-percent drop from a year ago. But some independent Chicago-area stores, especially in more affluent communities, are bucking the trend.
"So far we haven't felt any effect," Allison remarked. "But then again we're a specialized store, not what you find at Linens 'n Things."
Linens 'n Things Inc. is facing possible bankruptcy while other national home furnishings chains have already filed, including Wheeling-based Wickes Furniture, Sharper Image Corp., Lillian Vernon Corp. and Movie Gallery Inc.
"People have less disposable income," said Faye Feinstein, head of the Commercial Bankruptcy, Restructuring & Creditors' Rights Group for Quarles & Brady LLP in Chicago. "The mortgage crisis is having a trickledown effect. A lot of money is being spent on gas and air fare. If it's the kind of store where people spend $200 on things they don't need, people are not spending the way they used to."
Some stores, such as Jayson Home & Garden in Chicago and Lakeside Interiors in Wilmette, cite a wealthier clientele as one reason for success in the face of economic downturn.
Price said the typical Toms-Price client is also more insulated from changes in the economy.
"One of the things for us is that we do a lot of second-home business. Our clientele is the baby boomers and a lot of them have been purchasing second homes and condos in downtown Chicago. All these projects built over the past years are being finished and they're moving in and furnishing," Price explained.
When asked why they have succeeded where chain retailers failed, a lot of small business owners also cite strong customer service and individual attention.