Industry Insider: Toms-Price Home Furnishings

As lifestyles change, so does the furniture business.

When people decided to devote less time to formal living, their furniture choices changed, too. Museum-quality furniture with a high gloss finish was sacrificed in favor of less maintenance-intensive items that more readily hide scratches and dents which come with everyday living.

“The distressed look in furniture is very popular today,” said Scott Price, president Toms-Price Home Furnishings, the legendary fourth-generation family furniture chain founded in 1908. “We carry a line made by Mennonites in western Pennsylvania that is beautiful, but you can live with it and not worry. It has a waxy protection and looks very rich.”

Sectionals, especially those with recliners incorporated into them, are also very hot — in both fabric and leather.

“Leather is always a popular option because it is so comfortable and now it comes in so many different colors,” Price said. “Our Hancock and Moore line offers 400 different leathers, for instance. But leather is also much more expensive than upholstery because we are competing for hides with the makers of shoes, handbags and even car seats.”

On the plus side for upholstery, virtually all of the makers are domestic and Price said that fact has become more and more important to Toms-Price customers in recent years.

“Since the fall of 2008, our customers are regularly asking us if products they are considering were made in the USA,” he said. “They see it as a way to invest in and support America and I totally understand that.

“Over the past 15 to 20 years, the American furniture industry has been devastated by competition from overseas. But things are starting to turn around now,” he said. “Stanley, our youth furniture supplier, is producing its furniture entirely in the U.S. again. Harden is still producing furniture exclusively in New York state and Stickly is producing 97 percent of its furniture in New York state, too.”

Besides that, Price said, labor costs in China are starting to rise, so their products aren’t as competitive as they once were.

“It has become a logistical issue for us and for many manufacturers. The supply chain is so long when things are produced in Asia or elsewhere overseas. And then there are other issues like shipments being held up at the ports and competition for containers,” Price said. “I don’t want to quote a customer eight weeks for a custom item and then have it turn out to be 14 weeks. That makes us look bad.”

Now 80 percent of the furniture at Toms-Price is domestically made.

“Most of our quality leather and upholstered furniture is made here. In fact, even when things went overseas, it generally wasn’t the leather and upholstery. It tended to be the wood furniture that was being manufactured outside the country.”

The economy has also changed the way Toms-Price does business in another regard.

“Since people don’t want to buy on credit, they now save up their money and when they are ready to buy, they go to the store and want to get that item immediately,” Price said. “So we are increasingly allowing customers to buy items right off our showroom floors, if they wish.”

That is also why the Toms-Price outlet store in Bloomingdale has seen an uptick in business. All of those items, in addition to being discounted, are available for immediate possession. Toms-Price also holds a warehouse sale two or three times a year during which it sells items it has purchased by the truckload from manufacturers.

“There is definitely a heightened desire among our customers these days to get what they perceive to be a ‘good deal’ and that has made our outlet and warehouse sales more popular than ever before,” he said.

“With this economy, people are generally coming to us to replace furniture (usually upholstered) that has worn out,” Price said. “Most buyers are in their mid to late 40s (although they range from 35 to 70) and they are replacing something, or they are downsizing and need smaller furniture, or they are furnishing a second home somewhere. If they are refurnishing their home, they are now doing it one room at a time.”

Price believes people in the Chicago area are conservative. They pay their bills and they save their money, so there is an attitude out there, he said, that if you aren’t moving and the furniture is not worn out, you don’t need to change it. Consequently, the business environment for furniture retailers has been extremely challenging.

“But we are working to attract the next generation (of buyers) by increasing our Internet presence and our website marketing and we are trying to build relationships so that when people want to buy something, they come to us,” Price said.

“We are also encouraging people to think of furniture as the ultimate green investment. If they buy good quality furniture they can pass down to future generations, that is the perfect environmentally and value-conscious purchase.”

Toms-Price stores are located in Lincolnshire, Wheaton, Skokie, South Barrington and Bloomingdale. For more information, visit www.tomsprice.com