Baby Biz Beckons Restoration Hardware
By Staff -- Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 5/29/2007 6:00:00 AM
San Francisco -- Specialty retailer Restoration Hardware will launch Restoration Hardware Baby & Child later this year as a catalog and website. Among its recent brand extensions – Restoration Hardware Outdoor, Restoration Hardware Gift, Restoration Hardware Bed & Bath, and Brocade Home – the first to translate into stores will be Baby & Child.
"This is a severely under-served category in the top shopping centers,” said Gary Friedman, president and CEO. Noting that the top 100 centers “have only one offering – Pottery Barn Kids,” he said Baby & Child will be positioned slightly higher in pricing strategy.The 103-unit Restoration Hardware has held off store openings since 2005 in favor of testing direct-to-consumer brand extensions. Friedman said the catalog-and-internet emphasis will remain in place, with bricks-and-mortar capped at 150 stores for the chain.
The company continues to foment brand extensions as it works to build a sustainable business strategy. The latest: Restoration Hardware Trade – a new division that targets contract, hotel, and hospitality business. Restoration Hardware debuted the concept at the hospitality-oriented HD Expo in Las Vegas earlier this month and now plans to hire a sales force dedicated to the segment, Friedman said.
Looking ahead, Friedman sees the balance of 2007 as both challenging and promotional for the home furnishings business. Pointing to ongoing softness in the home building market, he said, “All the data says 45 percent of home furnishings sales are tied to a housing event – buying a new home, refurbishing a home or moving into a new home.”
Still, Restoration Hardware expects sales growth of between 9 percent and 11 percent this year and a small bump in operating margins to 1.8 percent..
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