STATE OF BUSINESS: On the Move

The moneyed U.S. consumer who performed so nobly in 1958 will buy even more heavily this year. So predict the retailers who sell and the manufacturers who make the goods. At Chicago's annual winter home-furnishing and appliance show last week, 45,000 buyers, salesmen and manufacturers from 11,483 firms started writing orders for the new year and swapping predictions about the future. Consensus: with the economy very definitely on the upbeat, U.S. retail sales in 1959 should post a banner year. Said one Washington discounter, who ordered $1,000,000 worth of goods and reports a 35% jump in sales for the first eight days of 1959: "Last year the buyers at the show were all just walking around looking, with long faces—this year they were all smiling and buying. It is the greatest market I've ever seen."

Out with Atrocities. The judgment may be somewhat exaggerated, but retailers from coast to coast are solidly optimistic about their prospects. In household furniture alone, says Paul Brandt, president of the National Association of Furniture Manufacturers, retail sales should top $4.3 billion for a 10% jump ahead of 1958. Boston, Atlanta, Denver. San Francisco retailers already report sales above last year, despite the record Christmas buying.

At the Chicago show the new word in the furniture men's vocabulary was "elegance.'' To tempt the growing U.S. luxury market, the buyers want—and are getting—better designs and higher quality. Prices may go up 3% or so in 1959, but for his money the consumer will get better furniture. Said one Seattle retailer: "There was a long period when manufacturers had atrocious taste in furniture—that day is gone."

The industry's big push is to warm the severe appearance of much modern furniture by mixing with it oriental lacquered furniture—lighter woods plus new materials and vivid fabrics. The industry is also bringing out a whole new line of "wall-hung" units—bookcases, hi-fi cabinets, cupboards, etc. Even children's furniture is being upgraded after 30 years of standard pink and blue finishes. Big Manhattan, Chicago and Detroit stores are laying in heavy stocks of specially designed children's furniture, scaled down in size from adult pieces.