SECAUCUS, N.J. — Logistics technology source Descartes System Group has presented Cory Home Delivery’s management information systems team with its Excellence in Innovation Award.

Edward J. Ryan, left, of Descartes presents the company’s Excellence in Innovation Award to Cory’s Malathi Palaniappa, director of MIS, Richard Hwang, business intelligence analyst, and Marin Dragojevic, chief information officer and executive vice president.

The company said in a release that the award acknowledged Cory’s successful launch of IT initiatives enabled by Descartes software.

“Utilizing Descartes’ On-Demand cloud software for route optimization and dispatching fleets is a value-added service focusing on movement of information,” said Marin Dragojevic, chief information officer at Cory. “Today 60% of our fleets use the Descartes model.”

Cory’s new technology provided by Descartes accelerates the flow of information, which enables Cory to use data in more immediate ways and create efficiencies, officials said. The technology allows Cory to produce information tracking reports weekly rather than monthly.

“We are able to respond to what is happening more quickly than ever before. The information hasn’t changed, but the speed with which it is transmitted has,” Dragojevic said.

Cory said the newly implemented routing technology has resulted in mileage improvements of 5% to 15%, creating fuel savings, decreased emissions and increased service.

“Cory has significantly invested in technology essentially to improve the overall delivery experience,” said Patrick Cory, managing partner of Cory.

“We can now build new enterprise resource planning systems that internally manage information flow and coordinate activities. Their use allows for leveraging scale to manage growth and is critical to just-in-time delivery,” said Dragojevic. “Technology is very subtle today and has a huge impact on growth. It’s all about the speed of information and being highly nimble in managing it.”

Descartes annual Global Conference provides information on trends and innovative uses of logistics technology, attracting transportation and logistics services providers, manufacturers, retailers, distributors and mobile services companies.

WARREN, Mich. — Art Van Furniture has purchased a former theater in Toledo, Ohio, for its first expansion of the ARt Van brand outside its home state of Michigan.

Diane Charles, the Top 100 store’s director of corporate communications, said the Ohio store could open on the 14-acre former Super Cinema site next spring. The 10-screen theater complex has been closed since 2008, and Art Van would like to put a 90,000-square-foot store on the site.

The only other stores the company currently has outside Michigan are the several mattress stores in the Indianapolis market operated by Mattress World, the 28-store Howell, Mich.-based retailer that Art Van acquired about a year ago.

According to the Toledo Blade, the retailer has been looking for sites within a 250-mile radius of its headquarters in suburban Detroit, and Charles confirmed that the company also is exploring sites in Chicago and Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio. Art Van has operated in Michigan for 53 years.

As for Toledo, "It just makes sense because the demographics were there and we already have media coverage," Charles said, adding that the location is 75 miles, or an hour and 10 minutes, from its warehouse facility in Warren. The company already makes deliveries to customers in the Toledo area.

The Blade quoted industry analyst Jerry Epperson as saying that, with $470 million in 2011 sales, Art Van dominates Michigan, and is one of the best run retail operations in the industry. He said the company’s warehouse is visited by others in the industry who come to see its cutting edge operations.

WARREN, Mich. — Art Van Furniture is building a 10,000-square-foot addition to its Royal Oak, Mich., showroom for a flagship Scott Shuptrine Interiors design center.

Gary Van Elslander, left, Art Van Furniture; Royal Oak, Mich., Mayor Jim Ellison; Art Van Elslander and Kim Yost, Art Van, turn a golden shovel in the groundbreaking ceremony for the addition of Scott Shuptrine Interiors to Art Van’s Royal Oak store.

The retailer held a groundbreaking ceremony for the upscale design center Tuesday at the nearly 57,000-square-foot store on Woodward Avenue in a suburb of Detroit.

Art Van will convert a large portion of its parking structure on the lower level of the facility to the Scott Shuptrine showroom, which “will feature an amazing grand staircase, sculptural ceiling and dozens of elegant, over-the-top amenities to assure a pleasurable, first-class shopping experience,” The Top 100 company said in a release.

The new Scott Shuptrine is expected to open in October. The retailer would not disclose its investment or project sales for the new space.

“This is going to be a breathtaking, state-of-the-art store with only the finest products and services available,” Art Van Furniture founder and Chairman Art Van Elslander said in the release. “We will provide our guests with the easiest and most enjoyable shopping experience imaginable – all done in an exquisite setting.”

Art Van began reintroducing the Scott Shuptrine name to Michigan consumers through in-store spaces in 2010, noting plans at the time to add the design centers to eight of its now 34 Art Van stores. It currently operates three Scott Shuptrine Interiors in Warren, Grand Rapids and Petoskey.

An interior rendering of Art Van Furniture’s flagship Scott Shuptrine Interiors shows the planned grand staircase leading up to the Art Van showroom in Royal Oak, Mich.

The Scott Shuptrine showrooms feature a retail floor, an interior design studio and a custom design shop. Diane Charles, Art Van’s director of corporate communication, said the Royal Oak location will be the flagship Scott Shuptrine and said there are no plans to do standalone Scott Shuptrine stores.

Key lines carried in the area include Huntington House, Bernhardt, Drexel Heritage, Maitland-Smith, American Leather, Rowe’s Robin Bruce, Massoud, Nuevo, French Heritage, Hooker and Four Hands.

In addition to “top-quality goods from carefully selected vendors,” Scott Shuptrine also is “a one-stop shop with everything from custom built furniture to exclusive rugs and window treatments,” Van Elslander said.

Art Van operates 34 Art Van Furniture stores, including an Art Van Rooms, five Art Van PureSleep bedding stores and 29 Mattress World stores in Michigan and Indiana. The company, which also has plans to franchise its Art Van and PureSleep stores, generated annual sales of $470 million last year, Furniture/Today estimates. That was up about 9.3% from the previous year.

Classical things are always fashionable, it’s a style that is always actual and modern, such things are often expensive because it’s a symbol of social status and taste. In Asia a classical Ming-chair is one of such things.  Young Taiwanese designer Pili Wu offers another sort of classics, it’s a red ‘Plastic Classic_Lacquered’ chair. It has a traditional Ming chair loop and back though it’s a plastic chair. Artisan Tian-chang Jian proposed hand-lacquered the design with 20 layers of natural lacquer, that creates a unique, ombré effect. The limited edition of hand lacquered version demonstrates the unique beauty which can only be achieved by this thousand year old technique – there are only 99 pieces.

Futuristic objects and pieces become more and more fashionable because the today’s life never stands – it runs as fast as it can. This lamp by American designer Bec Brittain is one of these objects.  It has a very unusual adapting shape thanks to thin LED tubes. You can choose the shape you want and make it yourself by configuring modular hardware, depending on the space where you use it.  You may make it pendant or free standing, take it outside or inside. This highly flexible and stylish futuristic lamp would attract attention and add an original touch to your interior.

Home gardens are always fashionable and everybody wants them, despite of having a real one outside. Here’s one more original idea of home gardens by Omer Arbel for Bocci – plant chandeliers. This is a new concept – glass spheres where you can put your plants that are not so big. Inside these big spheres you’ll find white planters and light bulbs. You’ll just hang these constructions to the ceiling and voila – you have a very original chandelier and pendant home garden. I don’t know if it’s very convenient in using, especially when you water the plants but the idea is cool.

HIGH POINT — The upholstery and case goods resources for the Panama Jack Home line will offer a domestic warehouse program later this year as part of a plan to better serve new and existing dealers.

The companies can use up to 100,000 square feet of space in the facility, said Stephen Giles, president of Palmetto Home.

The third-party-run North Carolina facility will warehouse and distribute the case goods line sourced from Indonesia by Palmetto Home. It also will service the upholstery line sourced from China by Aria Designs.

Both companies are currently shipping mixed containers from Asia, but don’t have the ability to stock domestically. The North Carolina facility will allow them that opportunity, which in turn will help them ship product to retailers in a matter of days from the time of order.

While the Panama Jack line is primarily sold on the East Coast and parts of the Midwest, the warehouse will serve the entire U.S., which will allow the case goods and upholstery lines to expand sales on the West Coast.

The facility will begin shipping goods in the third quarter, Giles said.

Both companies are showing product at the Panama Jack showroom in space 208 of Market on Green.

Other Panama Jack licensees include French Laundry for top of bed, Fancy That Gift & Décor for accessories and Riverwood Casuals for deck chairs.

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — Rocco Ingemi, a longtime key executive at Kathy Ireland Worldwide, has been promoted to executive vice president of retail and brand management for the company.

"Rocco and KIWW President and COO Stephen Roseberry are an incredible team," Ireland said. "It is a privilege to have these two executives beside me as we lead our company in future directions. They will report to me jointly."

Rocco Ingemi is taking on an expanded role at Kathy Ireland Worldwide, led by CEO Kathy Ireland.Rocco Ingemi is taking on an expanded role at Kathy Ireland Worldwide, led by CEO Kathy Ireland.

Ingemi will report to Kathy Ireland, CEO of the design and marketing company.

"Working with Rocco is an inspiring experience," said Roseberry. "He is masterful in implementing retail strategies. We are partnered in our efforts to serve management of the brand and our retailers. This expansion of Rocco’s responsibilities will allow us to work even more closely."

In another move, the company said Roseberry has joined its board of directors.

According to the company, License Global Magazine’s latest annual poll has rated KIWW the 28th most powerful brand on the planet and the highest rated brand of a single design entrepreneur.

DANBURY, Conn. — Ethan Allen Interiors has increased its quarterly dividend 29% to 9 cents per share, citing higher sales and profits.

"We are gratified that due to our continued growth and increase in sales and earnings our board has authorized this major increase in dividends," Ethan Allen Chairman and CEO Farooq Kathwari said in a release.

The dividend is payable July 25 to shareholders of record July 10.

Kathwari said the company will show that sales for the fiscal third quarter ended March 31 were up 8% from the same period a year ago. The company is set to release financial results for the period after the market close on Monday.

The Danbury, Conn.-based retailer and manufacturer of midpriced to high-end home furnishings said that because of continued improvements, it expects "to reverse valuation reserves on certain deferred tax assets," which will add about 81 cents per share to earnings.

Excluding that impact, earnings for the quarter are expected to be about 13 cents to 14 cents per share compared with an adjusted 7 cents per share for the third quarter last year, he said.

"In addition, we have continued our major initiative of changing our product programs so that by the end of our fourth quarter … in just nine months, about 60% of our products will be new," the company said. That effort reduced third quarter results by 4 cents to 5 cents per share, which, if also excluded, would result in earnings per share of 17 to 19, the company said.

Written orders by Ethan Allen’s retail division increased by 11% in the third quarter and comparable-store orders grew 8%, Kathwari said.

"While we continue to make major progress, we remain cautiously optimistic as macroeconomic conditions remain uncertain," he said.
 

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Recovery Systems International has acquired the rights to license The Official Sleep Products of Ironman. The new ownership group will manage the worldwide rights to sub-license the Ironman brand in the sleep products category.
         RSI acquired the rights to license the products from the World Triathlon Corp. T3 Recovery Products had been managing the licensing, but that company recently dissolved.

 "Ironman offers mattress manufacturers a unique, recovery- based story and brand for their customers," said Joseph Carman, the bedding veteran who is president of RSI. "We see this as an exciting time for the industry and our experienced team looks forward to helping manufacturers around the world increase the profitability of their brand portfolios with the Ironman name."

     Carman began working in the mattress business almost 20 years ago at Carman Mfg. He has been on the wholesale and retail sides of the bedding business, working at Spring Air and at Sleep Country USA. He spent three years at T3 Recovery Products before leaving the company earlier this year.
     Five licensees in four countries now manufacture Ironman branded sleep systems, representing a total of nine facilities. The newest licensee to the group is Ecus do Brazil.
     "With the help of RSI, these licensees will be able to couple cutting-edge technologies such as Celliant, which has been clinically proven to improve sleep quality and regulate body temperature, with a trusted brand that speaks to the need to recover," Carman said. "Additional licensee support will come from proprietary high-tech raw materials."
     RSI officials attended the recent International Sleep Products Assn. Expo and met with manufacturing partners and new licensees, saying they plan to expand the Ironman product line this year.
     Recovery Systems International is owned by a global consortium of mattress and home textiles manufacturers. The company said its primary objective is to combine the Ironman brand with innovative product development programs.