“Remember when you married? If you were like most of us, hand-me-downs from parents, aunts, uncles, and grandma's attic comprised your entire first household furnishings. People move from state to state, giving it no more thought-and with considerably less trepidation-than taking a cross town ‘El.’ Today, the average young man in business with a large corporation will statistically move about the country six different times before he's thirty years old! Soon more than half our entire population will be 25 and under… It's become an age of mobility, too. “All of a sudden,” said Sherman Heazlitt, Vice President, Furniture Division Dolly Madison Industries, in a 1967 Furniture World article that encouraged the practice of group selling, also called correlated selling and integrated selling, “we're a nation of young people. It was thought that an increasingly mobile population would also be a factor having a positive impact on furniture sales. Many feel their parents' homes are cluttered or have a hodge-podge look which they intend to avoid.” Dissatisfaction and disapproval of the decor in their parents' homes is very evident. Right or wrong, they want to make their own aesthetic decisions. “They are far more confident concerning matters of taste.
Never have we had a more vital marketing opportunity. “This is an acquisitive generation, used to spending.
As a result, we are meeting a new and different consumer. For the most part, they have known both prosperity and parental permissiveness. Burow, the Second Vice President of the National Association of Furniture Manufacturers (precursor organization to the American Home Furnishing Alliance) said of this newest generation of furniture buyers, “Because of their age, this group has never experienced a major depression. In a 1966 column on “Nearly Weds,” Richard E. The population had become more affluent as well. Women’s roles were changing, although the industry didn’t seem to have a clue regarding the broader implications of that change. If we are to be ready for the 1960 boom market, the time for action is now.” These are the three important factors in the health of any home furnishings market. In the meantime, the age of marriage has fallen, home construction is booming, and family income is steadily rising. By 1960, the 1940 war babies will be 20 years old and will begin setting up their homes.
Then the war babies began to come in such droves that by 1954, 4,100,000 babies were born. Here's why: In 1940, there were approximately two million babies born in America. It is imperative that we, in the industry, be ready for it. “The other major reason for an urgent need for a change,” he said, “is the fact that in five years we should be on the threshold of the greatest home furnishings market in the history of the country. Schacter went on to identify coming opportunities. It is the only form of retailing which has not kept in step with the times.” After taking more editorial space to criticize independent retail store owners, Mr. The industry has not measured up in any appreciable way to the standards of modern distribution.
Schacter, President of Banner-Whitehill Corporation, wrote in Furniture World, “The furniture business is still in its horse and buggy days and must be brought into the second half of the Twentieth Century. The entry of these yet to be named “Boomers” had been eagerly awaited. After considerable thought, we chose the mid 1960s and 1970s, the era when the Baby Boomers were entering their furniture buying years. This time though, it’s enough to make seasoned furniture men and women long for the good old days.įor this 140th year commemorative issue, the editorial staff of Furniture World thought it would be helpful to compare the current decade with those good old days, whenever they were. The furniture business has had its share of tough times, including about a dozen recessionary periods since the crash of 1929. Coping with a difficult economy as our industry has moved from producing to importing has not been easy. The furniture business is undeniably challenging these days.
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