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.

In with Automation. With new changes and new products, the appliance men hope for a good year in 1959 after 1958's relatively poor sales, also hope to keep prices steady. In Chicago, President Fred Maytag II of Iowa's Maytag Co. announced a long-engineered time-bleach injection for automatic washers, drew a round of applause when he said firmly that he will hold prices at last year's levels. Hotpoint sees good sales of a new countertop oven with a drop-down side that exposes four surface cooking units. The company expects to do just as well with its automatic surface unit, which is a combination fryer, Dutch oven and 24-cup coffeemaker. One innovation Hotpoint hopes to get into production soon: an automated, three-module kitchen "appliance wall." with two dishwashers, sink, disposal unit, freezer, refrigerator, and cooking units that operate with plastic, IBM-type cards; the homemaker merely chooses her meal, puts the meat, potatoes, vegetables, etc. in different ovens or on burners, selects the proper card, and automatic timers turn everything on and off at the right time. Probable price: about $3,300. Westinghouse showed off its experimental ultrasonic dishwasher, which looks like an inverted ice-cream cone.

Sellers of clothing also expect a big year. Buyers poured into Manhattan last week looking for spring and summer lines to fill their cleaned-off racks. What they saw at Kirby. Block & Co. and other buying centers were bright sports clothes and styles more feminine and less freakish than the sad sack and chemise--a softer silhouette, something like last year's Empire but with a fuller shoulderline, wider collar, and a more normal waistline. Like furniture men. some of 1959's dressmakers are on an oriental jag, with brighter colors, obi sashes and a returning popularity of silk. And for summer, the two-piece bikini swimsuit is coming back--thanks to Brigitte Bardot.

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