Category: Remodeling

All eyes were on the wall last year, and likely will be for much of this year, too, helping boost sales and optimism in the category.

Wall décor sales, which include paintings, framed art, wall hangings, mixed media and mirrors, grew 2.8% between 2019 and 2020, to $7.74 billion, according to Home Accents Today’s 2020 Universe Study. The biggest portion is rung up at mass merchants and off-price retailers, followed by the direct-to-consumer channel (which racked up the most year-over-year growth—3.5%— in 2020), and then home accent and lifestyle stores. And according to CB2’s first-ever Next in Design report, mirrors were the most searched product of 2020, with more than four million individual searches.

“The beauty of wall art is that it can complement a room’s décor, or it can be the focal point,” said Cyrus Loloi, principal of Loloi, which launched its textile wall art program in 2019 and has watched it grow. “Either way, wall art is no longer an afterthought in the home — it

Home Accents Today’s Retail Stars list recognizes independent brick-and-mortar retailers of home accents – including furniture stores, home accessories boutique stores and interior design showrooms – that merchandise creatively, have a positive presence in their local communities and stand out from the competition.

View the complete list here.

To nominate a retailer for our 2021 list, email Thomas Lester at tlester@homeaccentstoday.com.

Trinity Mercantile and Design

Decatur, Ga.

1 store

Estimated 2019 total sales: $1.35 million

trinity-decatur.com

Home design and furniture specialist, founded in 2012. Key suppliers include Lexington and Woodbridge Furniture for accent furniture; Jaipur Living, Surya and Stanton for area rugs; Tozai, Chelsea House, Blue Ocean Traders and Global Views for decorative accessories; Arteriors, Hudson Valley Lighting and Currey & Company for lamps/lighting; Worlds Away, Carvers Guild and Bungalow 5 for wall décor; Eastern Accents and Pine Cone Hill for soft goods. Attends Atlanta Market and High Point Market. Changes window displays often and merchandises in seasonal vignettes. Best retail idea is using the store as an event space for events and fundraisers.

In their own words

Please describe your visual merchandising scheme.

We change our two windows monthly and they are usually seasonal. We have vignettes

Rug and home textiles producer Jaipur Living’s March introductions focus on texture, performance and versatility. Highlights include all-new power-loomed and indoor-outdoor collections, along with artisan-made hand-knots and new indoor-outdoor pouf options that will be shoppable on Jaipur Living’s website in March.

“Jaipur Living’s March introductions have a lot of options when it comes to layering,” saidDirector of Product Development Steve Sorrow. “We’ve continued to expand on our Simply Put trend that includes colors and textures that are easy to decorate with, and we’ve received an enthusiastic response to it.”

HIGHLIGHTS

• The hand-knotted Salinas brings traditions back to life with four new additions
• The new Tahiti collection achieves a sisal look for indoors and out
• Catalyst gets new colorways in one of its best-selling designs
• Almost 60 power-loomed and performance rugs are being introduced across 20 new and four existing collections.
• Nearly a dozen indoor-outdoor poufs debut in four new collections.

TRENDS

• Formations – rug designs guided by patterns and forms found in nature.
• Metallics – just a touch adds a pop of intrigue to space.
• Simply Put – modern solids with subtle textures that simplify design decisions.

Lauren Roses is Home Accents Today’s product editor, responsible for selecting and compiling

There’s lots to love in lighting this season.

The industry is gearing up for Lightovation next month — a show postponed from its usual January timeframe to March 23-26 this year. Many companies participated in Dallas Market Center’s Virtual Lighting Show in January or released product on their own, so there is a bevy of introductions to explore and consider.

Trends in the category have also evolved, and designers Libby Langdon of Libby Langdon Interiors and Shay Geyer of IBB Design shared their observations in a video on DMC’s website.

Langdon outlined the trends she sees in fixtures:

Eco-Style Mix

This trend is all about grounding one’s self in nature, Langdon said. Think twine and jute rope in varying thicknesses, bamboo and wood as frame materials, and burlap and other chunky-textured linens being used to soften the visual feel of the fixture and the light itself. They key to this trend is the mix of natural materials on a single fixture.

Colored Glass

Colored glass in lighting has gotten a

New York – Macy’s Inc. continues to modernize its technology platforms.

The company has hired Xingchu Liu as senior vice president, enterprise data & analytics. Liu is responsible for building and leading the company’s enterprise data & analytics team, which will focus on analytics governance, data management and activation. The team will partner closely with business units to support analytics execution and drive efficiency and improved decision making throughout the business. He will report to Matt Baer, chief digital officer of Macy’s, Inc.

“Enterprise data & analytics is a critical part of Macy’s vision to build profitable lifetime customer relationships by embedding data and analytics at the heart of everything we do,” said Baer. “We know that modern retail is built on a balance of art and science, and I am confident Xingchu will hold that balance and help Macy’s stand up a best-in-class data and analytics center of excellence and enable us to move faster, drive innovation and stay competitive.”

Prior to joining Macy’s, Inc., Liu was the president of BlackLocus, an innovative subsidiary within The Home Depot, where he led corporate-level strategies for data, analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). Prior to The Home Depot, Xingchu was

Dallas Market Center’s March Market, set to take place March 23-26, will include the spring Total Home & Gift Market and Lightovation in addition to the Dallas Apparel & Accessories Market and KidsWorld.

Pre-registration, which is the exclusive method to receive the FastPass for contactless entry, is now available at dallasmarketcenter.com.

For the March shows, buyers will discover new products across all categories at the once-a-year event for fashion, gifts, home décor, lighting, floral, holiday, gourmet and housewares. The marketplace will feature more than 30 new and expanded showrooms, hundreds of Temps including Immediate Goods on 11, and socially distant special events and promotions including a $1000 giveaway.

“Dallas is truly the center of business creativity and commerce,” said Cindy Morris, president and CEO of Dallas Market Center. “We are welcoming more first-time attendees who appreciate a single marketplace to find it all, get inspired, and push their business forward for 2021. And we are doing it all with the utmost attention on supporting health and safety.”

Home furnishings showrooms in the World Trade Center that are expanding and relocating include HiEnd Accents (WTC 515) and The Import Collection (WTC 6440).

New in the Interior Home + Design Center: Darafeev,