Two furniture retailers try to turn the tables on each other

With the economy continuing to lumber on its downhill course, a couple of the Twin Cities' most well-known furniture retailers are making an unprecedented pitch for business in a scene that's playing out in the advertising pages as something of a furniture war.

In the left corner: Schneiderman's Furniture of Lakeville. The family-owned company closed its doors for a week to mark down nearly everything in stock for what it has promoted for days as a $16 million "sale of great magnitude." To help pull off the job, Schneiderman's hired Lynch Sales Co., a sales coordination firm with a U.S. base in Grand Rapids, Mich. The sale opened to the public Friday.

And in the right corner: HOM Furniture Inc. of Coon Rapids. On Friday, HOM's president and CEO, Rod Johansen, took out a full-page ad of his own. In an open letter to furniture shoppers, Johansen urged in bold type, "Don't be fooled!"

The ad warned, "Be aware of outstate companies hired to raise fast cash by replacing local jobs with aggressive sales people."

Schneiderman's owner Larry Schneiderman said there was a "strong implication" the ad was aimed at him.

"The implication is that we won't be there to take care of people, and that's not true," said Schneiderman, who took over the 60-year-old company from his father in the mid-1970s. "We flat-out need to do something different and bigger than anything we've done in the past and see what we can generate. And these folks [Lynch Co.] ... have the experience to help us do it."

Schneiderman said the blowout sale is "absolutely not" a prelude to liquidation. Sales are "definitely off," he said, but wouldn't offer specifics.

Johansen declined to specify whether he was targeting Schneiderman's, though he noted the company's high-profile promotion.

"I'm exercising my right to let customers know what's going on," said Johansen, who took out ads at newspapers in the Twin Cities and Duluth. "They bring in their high-pressure sales folks and once they pack up and leave, you don't know if their intention was to serve customers or make the sale. In an economy like we're in today, I think we'd rather do business with our fellow neighbors than guys that make their living going town to town."

Lynch Sales Co., which also has offices in Canada and the United Kingdom, says on its website that it has put on more than 200 events for Ethan Allen. It also offers up its "highly trained sales coordinators and professional sales help" and boasts it can "raise as much as 100 percent of our clients' annual sales volume at acceptable margins."

Schneiderman said it's true that there will be some out-of-state salespeople in his seven locations, but the majority of the workforce will be his own.

As for the "all sales final" rule that doesn't allow for refunds or exchanges, Schneiderman said that it veers from his usual return policy, but that the stores stand behind the manufacturer's one-year warranty. HOM Furniture's Johansen seized it as an opportunity to highlight his company's service.

Johansen said the response to his ad has been 100 percent positive, through calls and e-mails.

Schneiderman said sales have been equally hopeful, and that he's OK with a little public rivalry.

"My dad used to always tell me, 'Respect your competitors, but fear none of them.'"