Furniture makers tap into growing market for children

By Allen Norwood
HIGH POINT, N.C. – When she talks about the new furniture collection for kids, Maxine Clark

acts like an excited 9-year-old. She scoots up onto a bunk bed, gets on her knees to pull out a deep toy drawer, almost giggles when she lifts a shelf to expose a secret hiding place.
Clark is founder and chief executive of Build-A-Bear Workshop. The chain has partnered with Pulaski Furniture to create and market a new line of youth furniture, which was introduced recently at the High Point Market.
The four collections – two for girls, one for boys and one offering modular storage – created the most buzz in what industry insiders say is one of the hottest furniture categories.
For those who don’t know – who don’t have kids or grandkids of a certain age – Build-A-Bear is a chain of mall stores where youngsters build their own teddy bears and other stuffed animals. Clark said Build-A-Bear operates about 270 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Clark said 90 percent of moms and kids know the name.
Connecting with a furniture company just made sense, she said. “Moms were always telling us stuff. `I wish they did this, I wish they did that.'”
Pulaski talked to children before creating the line. The furniture company also worked with Maria Bailey, an author and expert on marketing to moms.
The furniture is fun and functional and packed with features that are likely to appeal to children.
A bedside table has a detachable book and magazine rack that can be hooked to either side of the table. The table has built-in lighting controls that will accommodate any lamp and let kids turn the lamp on or off, or even dim it, at just a touch.
The bottom shelf of a bookcase lifts to expose that secret hiding place Clark enjoyed so. “The loft bed,” she said, “is like having your own private treehouse in your room.”
The two bedroom collections for girls – two, because 70 percent of Build-A-Bear’s customers are girls – are a “princess” group and a more casual group. Both are in white. The boys’ furniture is finished in a warm honey.
All drawer fronts feature innovative color panels that can be changed quickly and easily. Pastels for the girls, primary colors for the boys. The panels store in a pouch on the back of the chest or dresser, so they won’t get lost.
“We wanted this to be versatile,” Clark said. “A girl might be a ballerina this week, a soccer player next week.”
Drawer and door knobs are available with and without the bear logo. Deep drawers under a craft table feature chalkboard fronts, so children can make notes on what’s inside.
The furniture is due to hit stores in February and March. Pulaski will add Build-A-Bear activities to its stores.
The twice-a-year wholesale furniture market has a new name, the High Point Market, reflecting the moniker that many have long used. Other elements are the same though: It draws more than 70,000 vendors and buyers from around the world, and designs unveiled in High Point typically appear in retail showrooms in about six months.
Youth furniture is such an important category to the industry that it was the focus of the market’s opening day press breakfast Oct. 16.
Jack Richardson of Lea Industries, a company that specializes in youth furniture, said the youth market is expected to grow about 15 percent a year for the next four or five years. “It is by far the fastest growing category in the industry,” he said.
Robin Campbell of Stanley Furniture, the leading youth manufacturer, said American youngsters are recognizing and requesting brand names by age 3. And it’s not just parents who respond: “Grandparents spend $35 million a year on their grandchildren.”
Manufacturers recognize that children’s rooms are often the smallest bedrooms, the executives said. Companies raise loft beds to provide space underneath. Drawers under beds often provide the same space offered by a chest or bureau.
Furniture makers also know that kids’ needs and tastes will change as they grow. A Build-A-Bear crib, for instance, converts easily to a regular bed with a $220 kit. Also, because pieces are scaled down and affordable, youth furniture will be used in condos, townhouses and vacation homes, so collections must have grown-up appeal, too.
Stanley’s new youth collection, myHaven, features 20 colors – yes, 20 – available on any of 30 pieces. Some of the colors are playful and will certainly capture the imaginations of children, but others are far more sophisticated than the primary colors you might expect in a child’s room.
Spokesperson Lauren Estep said Stanley found color inspiration in creations by J. Crew, Lacoste and other companies popular with stylish adults. The furniture, with beadboard and louvered panels, has a sort of beach cottage theme.
The “unisex” look is by design, too. “We know that more and more people are going to buy this furniture … for a second home,” she said.