Today's Furniture exits as high-end market dwindles
Published:Friday | June 25, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Today's Furniture Limited is locking shop, a casualty of the declining market for high-end furniture that has forced retailers into cutting operations or permanently closing doors.
The furniture store at 92C Constant Spring Road is closing down gradually, and is running a 50 per cent sale on remaining stock, staff there said this week.
The store owner was not reached for a comment on Today's Furniture's reasons for exiting the market.
But Karmen Brown, owner of design carrier, Karmen's Kollec-tions and Furnitureland on Constant Spring Road, says stores like hers have been losing business consistently.
Brown said that since the start of the recession, now in its second year, Karmen's Kollection has experienced a fall off in business of about 50 per cent.
"We have had to lay off staff," she told the Financial Gleaner.
"We just have to wait and see. You cannot have any plans."
A Labour Day sale intended to boost cash flow did not happen because of the state of emergency and west Kingston violence. Karmen's Kollection was opened in December 2004 at its current location at 112 Constant Spring Road.
The store buys from furniture manufacturers in the United States, China, Ecuador and Italy. Brown says her competition is limited to other small operators.
Clara Williams, manager of Bohios Jamaica Limited, at Fairview Shopping Centre in Montego Bay, says her sales have been dropping since 2009 though she declined to quantify it, but she was hopeful of a resurgence in the latter part of this year.
"Things have been very quiet. We used to have a lot less of the walk-in customers and the impulse buyers. Now, they come in with lists and already know what they want," said Williams.
The store manager said she considers Bohios "blessed", as loyal customers of the three-year-old store kept coming back to make purchases.
The company offers design services as well as medium- to high-end furnishings.
Another MoBay operation, Matahari Enterprises Limited, was however a lot more upbeat.
"The last quarter of 2009 was incredible. It was a great Christmas season for us," said company director Jason Shelton.
In October, Matahari expanded from Montego Bay where its market was mostly hotels, into Kingston where it branched out into retail sales after a J$4-million investment on initial stock of Indonesian-made products.
Shelton also said he has seen signs of a slowdown since March at the Kingston store but, like Williams, expected business to pick up in the latter months of the year.
Said Williams: "Jason Shelton and I work well together in the Montego Bay market. We recommend each other. They do excellent products as well."