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Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



January 25, 1921 



wages, although he maintained that labor must swallow 

 some of the losses of the readjustment period just as the 

 dealer and the manufacturer, the lumberman and all the 

 rest have been and are now doing. 



The manufacturer, too, customarily declared it his be- 

 lief that lumber had about reached the bottom and that 

 a rise was more to be expected than a further drop. But 

 all arguments failed utterly to convince the dealer that the 

 price of furniture had been placed as low as it should and 

 consequently he refused to buy. 



The discussion seemed to have some effect, however, 

 in the seqpnd week of the market. The big convention 

 of the Retail Furniture Association of the United States 

 was held in Chicago in that week and from that conven- 

 tion came the word that it would be wise to "buy con- 

 servatively — sanely cautiously — but now." President 



John L. Young warned of the possibility of an advance 

 in prices if buying were delayed to the point of creating 

 an abnormal demand later and this seemed to have a 

 little effect. News of the reopening of numerous indus- 

 tries throughout the country and of the success of the 

 holiday trade and some early January sales had some 

 effect, but altogether it was not sufficient to give the manu- 

 facturer any cause for cheering. 



The third week found another slump, so that the mar- 

 ket could hardly be called at all satisfactory from the 

 manufacturer's standpoint. 



This is what the dealers seemed to be doing and what 

 many of them said they were doing: 



Many of them have on hand now considerable stocks 

 of the high-priced merchandise bought in the early part 

 of last year. They must take a loss on that. They came 

 to Grand Rapids and took note of the new prices, then 

 went back to the stores and marked down their stocks on 

 the basis of the replacement values. February sales will 

 throw these stocks on the market at the reduced prices. 

 If the public buys them, and the dealers are thus able to 

 unload, they will, in turn, buy from the manufacturer to 

 replace their stocks. If the February sales fail, the future 

 of the furniture industry is not bright. 



There is, in spite of this condition, a general feeling 

 among both manufacturers, salesmen and dealers that 

 the year as a whole will be a most prosperous one. In 

 spite of present lack of order placing there is a generally 

 optimistic opinion among all concerned. The difference 

 of opinion lies in when these improved conditions may 

 be expected. The manufacturer has said business will 

 pick up in March and April. The dealer has said, "1 

 don't know when it w^ill come but it will come. " And 

 in this frame of mind the dealer is inclined first to unload 

 what he already has in stock and next to see that first 

 dollar roll across his threshold before he starts sending 

 one out in the mails. 



Grand Rapids furniture factories, and they are typical 

 of those elsewhere, are practically closed. A few are 

 running part time, three days a week and with part crews. 

 A few are running certain portions of their plants, but 

 from business secured in the market there is no present 



expectation of an early resumption of business. The 

 salesmen are going out upon the road at once and if they 

 can produce something may happen. If they fail to do 

 any better on the road than they did in the market the 

 furniture factories are due for a prolonged shut down. 



Manufacturers have swallowed their losses. They are 

 today offering their merchandise at an average reduction 

 of fifteen per cent when most of that product is made up 

 of material which can now be purchased for one-half or 

 even less than what they actually paid for it. Many of 

 them still have considerable supplies of high-priced lum- 

 ber in their yards, which represents a real loss to them, 

 and they are not disposed to yield to the demands of the 

 dealers that they make still further reductions in prices. 

 On the other hand, some manufacturers are disposed to 

 charge that dealers made abnormal profits during the 

 great rush for furniture, and that it is up to them to make 

 the further reduction if one is needed in order to entice 

 the public to buy. 



The great hope of all lies in the expected resumption 

 of building operations, for with the present well known 

 shortage of homes it is the belief that the opening of spring 

 and the increased building, due to lower prices on build- 

 ing material and labor, will create a demand for furni- 

 ture which will bring about the resumption of furniture 

 making which right now is at a standstill. 



Chicago Market Continues Slothful 



With the exception of one line, in v/hich there has really 

 been an astonishing business, only a comparatively small 

 amount of buying developed on the January Chicago 

 furniture market between the first and latter part of the 

 third w^eek of the market. 



The one line excepted, Show^ers Brothers, had booked 

 up to "Wednesday, Jan. 19, over $2,000,000 worth of 

 business in bedroom suites. The bookings of this con- 

 cern have furnished the sensation of the market. Buyers 

 have been pouring into this exhibit, "1319" Michigan 

 avenue, keeping every order book busy, while other ex- 

 hibitors have been getting only a sprinkle of buyers. 



This situation is attributed to the fact that Showers 

 Brothers is probably offering the low^est priced line of its 

 kind on the market. It appears that price is the ruling 

 factor of the present market; that is, that quality is not so 

 much in demand as a low price. The more expensive lines, 

 which were rushed during the period of frantic buying, 

 now past, are receiving only indifferent attention. 



Showers Brothers market gum and oak suites, as one of 

 their salesmen explained, "for the masses." Their gum 

 suites are finished in walnut and mahogany stains in adap- 

 tations of period designs. These are said to be of values 

 highly attractive to the class of trade which does not care 

 for, nor can afford, expensive pieces of furniture. 



The two million dollars' worth of business booked by 

 Showers Brothers is approximately one-fifth of the esti- 

 mated annual capacity of the company s plants. This 

 (ContimieJ on page 34) 



