That’s the dirty little secret of the furniture business: Brands are pretty much meaningless when a consumer is shopping for a sofa or a new bedroom set.
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So as good as the brands that Authentic bought are in the context of the furniture business, they will have their hands full getting their money’s worth on their purchase. (The latter is also a supplier brand, but it has only come to the attention of customers because of its burgeoning retail chain.) That’s also why the so-called “lifestyle” stores like Pottery Barn, West Elm and Crate & Barrel-not to mention IKEA and RH at either ends of the pricing spectrum-have been able to establish footholds in the furniture business using their own store brands. Ask a consumer what furniture brands she’s heard of and she’ll likely answer Rooms To Go or Ashley. Even big, well-known brands with major presences in other home furnishings categories, such as Martha Stewart and Ralph Lauren, have struggled to get the furniture shopper’s attention when they go into a store.Īs a result, store names have become the de facto brands of the furniture business. Brands are rarely displayed, much less promoted, and a shopper would be hard-pressed to find a label on a product without picking up cushions or opening drawers. When you go into a furniture store, you are often greeted with an overwhelming array of brown boxes-dressers, consoles, credenzas, whatever-and gray places to sit (the industry calls this “upholstered furniture,” but consumers just call them couches). Outside of a few rare exceptions-La-Z-Boy immediately comes to mind-the furniture customer does not shop by brand.
In that context, a little north of $35 million isn’t all that much to spend.)
(By point of comparison, that was the same amount Authentic offered when it tried to buy a broken and bankrupt Brookstone earlier this year their Vince Camuto deal, done with a partner, had a price tag of $375 million. Then again, it paid virtually nothing for them: $38.5 million. Henredon's Chloe Sofa Courtesy of Henredonįirst off, Authentic-which already manages a stable of big brands (including the recently acquired Vince Camuto and Nine West), but is new to furniture-picked up some real legacy names: Thomasville, Drexel, Broyhill and Henredon.