Pocono News Section

Home Sales Slump Impacts Furniture Sales

Home Sales Slump Impacts Furniture Sales - Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 3:36PM EST

Reported by: Laurie Monteforte
Wednesday, Apr 9, 2008 @03:36pm EST
STROUDSBURG, MONROE COUNTY- Home prices and home sales have hit record lows and the fallout is now impacting other businesses, like furniture stores.

Randy Transue will welcome his first child any day now. Randy works hard as a furniture Sales Consultant to pay the bills and expects to work even harder once his son is born.

He said, "Whether there is a recession or not every body feels as if it's a recession. Every body is having problems."

Randy works on commission at Rosen's Furniture and Mattress Outlet in Stroudsburg. If people don't buy, he can't pay his bills. He said he's noticed customers are careful with their cash but he's not worried because Rosen's sells discount furniture so it's busier than other shops.

"They'd rather come here and spend less money so this way they get a couple pieces of furniture as opposed to one piece of furniture," he said.

Furniture Consultant Gus Pinzon said he's also noticed customers being more frugal. He explained, "You try to greet the customers at the door when the come in, your name, if they need any help. They totally ignore you and just run right here to the clearance section."

Furniture in that section is marked down about 75% and once it hits the floor it usually only lasts a day or two before it's sold. "Everybody's coming in looking for sales, trying to stretch the dollar," said Pinzon.

He added even though prices are low, some people still hold off on buying. He said, "They'll come in today, they'll come in next week and they'll drop by whenever they're in the area just to take a look and see if the prices go down."

Even though discounted prices mean lower commissions Randy and Gus say they'll just have to watch their pennies and get through this tough time with everyone else.

Store managers said more people than ever are using the layaway, deferred payment and credit programs.