Furniture Retailers Showing Surprising Strength

It may just be consumers pushing up purchases in advance of tariff-related price hikes but many of the big chains showed better numbers for their most recent quarters.

The furniture business has been in a post-pandemic hangover going on three years, its sales impacted not just by consumers turning their attention more to out-of-home spending but also more recently tariff-induced price increases and supply chain issues. Even domestic producers of wood furniture and upholstery have been struggling as many of the components they use – fabrics, some frames and things like fasteners and finishes – still come from overseas.

So it was a pleasant surprise when a number of big public retailers in the furniture and home space showed better – sometimes much better – results in their recent financial reports, covering the late spring and early summer period. While executives at the company didn’t specifically attribute the good news to consumers trying to get out ahead of potential price hikes, it certainly may have played a factor.

Wayfair, the big online home furnishings seller, offered up the biggest unexpected results, registering a profit for the first time in more than four years. It came on a 5 percent increase in topline revenues, again something it hasn’t seen much of in years. Even as it attributed some of it to smaller purchases, it did say big ticket items also showed improvement.

Arhaus, the upscale furniture retailer, had similar news with net revenue up 15.7 percent, including comparable growth of 10.5 percent. Haverty’s, with furniture stores primarily in the Southeast, showed a modest 1.3 percent bump in sales, but it was its first gains in nearly three years.

Ethan Allen, which has one of the highest percentages of North American production, was an outlier, with its revenue falling 9 percent, but on the positive front, it reported that written orders were up 1.6 percent.

Aside from furniture retailers, Floor & Decor also had good news with a net sales gain of 7.1 percent and said it is sticking with plans to open 20 new stores this fiscal year.

All of this encouraging news only represents a three-month period, but after multiple years of disappointing financial results, companies in the sector – and those that supply them with components like wood – have to be pleased with what they are seeing.

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