Danbury-Based Ethan Allen In Retail Industry’s Hot 100; Only CT Company Named
/The lone Connecticut-based retailer to make the list of the Hot 100 Retailers produced by the National Retail Federation is Danbury-based Ethan Allen Interiors, sliding in at #97. Data from the national advocacy organization indicates 5 percent growth and 208 locations nationwide for the chain.
Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. (NYSE:ETH) is a leading interior design company and manufacturer and retailer of quality home furnishings. The company offers free interior design service to its clients and sells a full range of furniture products and decorative accessories through ethanallen.com and a network of approximately 300 Design Centers in the United States and abroad.
Ethan Allen owns and operates eight manufacturing facilities including five manufacturing plants and one sawmill in the United States plus one plant in each of Mexico and Honduras. Approximately seventy percent of its products are made in its North American plants. Chairman, President and CEO is M. Farooq Kathwari.He has been president since 1985 and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since 1987.
The company website indicates that “Ethan Allen is full-service. We conceptualize, design, source, manufacture, market, advertise, style, sell, distribute, and install. That means at headquarters our horizons are ever broadening. But our job is surprisingly straightforward: that is, to raise the bar — in all aspects of the company every day.”
Overall in Connecticut, the Federation highlighted the importance of the retail industry on the state’s economy:
- Retail directly and indirectly supports 1 in 5 Connecticut jobs.
- Retail is directly and indirectly responsible for 16% of Connecticut's GDP.
- Retail directly and indirectly generates 15% of labor income in Connecticut.
- Retail supports 476,568 jobs in Connecticut. (see breakdown below)
Among Connecticut’s neighboring New England states, Boston-based Wayfair was the #2 retailer nationwide on the Hot 100; Jordan’s Furniture, based in Taunton, MA was ranked #24; C & J Clark, headquartered in Newton, MA was #29; and Framingham-based Cumberland Farms was ranked #62. In addition, LL Bean (Freeport, Maine) was #94 and BJ’s Wholesale Club (Westborough, MA) rounded out the list at #100.
Breaking down Connecticut employment by retail sector, the Federation reported:
- Retail trade (including food services and drinking places) 17.2%
- Health care and social assistance 14.8%
- Finance and insurance 9.8%
- Manufacturing 9.4%
- Professional, scientific, and technical services 8.2%
- Other services, except public administration 5.8%
- Construction 5.8%
- Administrative and waste services 5.7%
- Real estate and rental and licensing 5.6%
- Education services 3.9%
Nationally, the top 10 leading the Hot 100 in sales growth were Albertsons (Boise, Idaho), Wayfair, Ascena Retail Group (Suffern, NY), Conn’s (The Woodlands, Texas), SpartanNash (GrandRapids, MI), Michael Kors Holdings (New York), Under Armour (Baltimore), Cardinal Health (Dublin, Ohio), Five Below (Philadelphia), and Amazon.com (Seattle). Each of the top 10 companies had sales growth exceeding 25 percent from 2012 to 2013.
The data for the Hot 100 report was provided by Kantar Retail for the National Retail Federation.
