MIAMI--(City Furniture has opened the first of five stores in its tri-county expansion – the newly transformed Dadeland showroom in the Miami market.
)--Revealing results of a $3.5 million “extreme makeover,”“Consumers’ tastes and expectations are changing fast, and our next-generation design reflects that reality”
With business on the upswing as the economy improves, City Furniture President Keith Koenig said South Florida’s top-selling furniture retailer is launching construction of additional stores to dramatically increase sales in proven locations. Construction begins this month for Cutler Bay and Oakland Park stores. The company added 25 permanent jobs in connection with the Dadeland store and will add about 60 more firmwide by early 2013, Koenig said.
City Furniture’s highest performing location per square foot, the Dadeland showroom is one of the nation’s “greenest” furniture stores and brings City Furniture’s upscale next- generation store design into sharp focus for consumers.
“Consumers’ tastes and expectations are changing fast, and our next-generation design reflects that reality,” Koenig explained. “Today’s customers want a shopping experience that inspires their imagination, delivers outstanding quality for the price – and reflects a company’s lasting values. They research first online and expect a ‘wow’ factor when they invest time to visit a store.”
To meet those expectations, City Furniture is reinventing its store environments and introduced a new website this spring. While City Furniture’s exceptional value for the price and same-day delivery are unchanged, the store design features a host of energy efficient features. Each store in the expansion is being built to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, as an extension of City Furniture’s values and sustainable practices. Nationwide, only a handful of furniture stores have achieved LEED certification.
At the Dadeland store, a dramatic 27-foot-high central atrium (photo) adds eye appeal, along with richly textured “green” materials such as a cherry Hitchcock panel wall (photo) made with reclaimed wood, and natural stone feature walls with recycled Italian stone. Energy- and water-saving features include LED lighting and a super high efficiency HVAC system, plus drip irrigation and environmentally sound paints, coatings, adhesives, carpet and flooring.
At each new South Florida location, the company builds on the success of its City Furniture/Ashley Furniture HomeStore superstore concept. City Furniture is the Ashley Furniture HomeStore licensee in southeast and southwest Florida and has had strong results offering the two brands in adjoining stores. Once the Cutler Bay store is completed, the site’s existing City Furniture store will be transformed as an adjacent Ashley Furniture HomeStore. In the Fort Lauderdale market, an Ashley Furniture HomeStore will be built, and a fully renovated City Furniture store is a few doors north. Construction of a new Ashley Furniture HomeStore in West Palm Beach begins in August.
The retailer operates 14 City Furniture and nine Ashley Furniture HomeStore locations in Florida. For information visit www.cityfurniture.com.
Source: www.businesswire.com
Artwork's long journey home ends desert mystery - Sydney Morning Herald
Lost and found: The missing painting will be removed from sale after it was offered for auction as part of the late American billionaire and philanthropist John W Kluge's estate. Photo: Joe Armao
A SIGNIFICANT Papunya Tula painting missing for more than 10 years has turned up at auction in Melbourne, and its journey — from hanging in a remote Northern Territory health service to yesterday’s withdrawal from sale as part of an American billionaire’s collection — is rockier than Uluru.
The work, catalogued as Old Tatump and Natuma Tjaltjarri (1915-1987), was last month identified by Melbourne-based curator John Kean, formerly arts adviser to Papunya Tula Artists and the interim administrator for Pintupi Homelands Health Service at Walungurru (or Kintore) community in the NT in the mid-80s.
Mr Kean says he commissioned the work, depicting the journey of the Pintupi and Luritja people from Papunya, where they unhappily lived from 1957 to 1981, to their homeland 530 kilometres west of Alice Springs, from artist Charlie Wartuma, a founder of Papunya.
The work was part of the late American billionaire and philanthropist John W. Kluge’s collection being sold tomorrow night through Mossgreen Auctions to benefit Columbia University, where Mr Kluge studied. It will now be repatriated to the health service for its historic, not financial, worth.
Dubious sales have plagued this important art movement, and establishing provenance remains the most challenging issue facing the indigenous Australian art market today — and this painting, despite the happy ending, is no exception.
Several weeks ago, Mr Kean was showing a slide of the large acrylic on plywood story board during a lecture at the Victorian Arts Centre, explaining it had disappeared 10 years ago, when a member of the audience told him it was in the latest Mossgreen catalogue under a different title.
Mr Kean, who believes it is the work he commissioned despite the title difference, alerted Mossgreen’s indigenous art specialist, Shaun Dennison, and Pintupi Health Service board.
Mr Dennison traced the provenance and the Pintupi Health Service board wrote to Columbia University explaining the work’s historic significance, requesting the work’s donation.
Mr Dennison says he believes the painting’s disappearance from the health service goes back further. Documentation shows it was purchased by the Mr Kluge in 1996.
Mr Dennison cites four prior owners – a ranger in the Kintore area, Peter Bartlett; Yuendumu community dealer Peter Van Groesen; Kimberly Art director Peter Harrison; and the Museum Art International Adelaide director, David Cossey.
Mr Kean said last night that discussions he had had with senior health worker at Pintupi Health Service, Marlene Nampitjinpa, and board member, Tommy Conway, indicated that the painting had been “illegally taken” from the health service.
Mrs Nampitjinpa, who still works at the health service, says “it must have been wrapped in a blanket at night time and taken away”.
Source: www.smh.com.au
No comments:
Post a Comment