FURNITURE OUTLOOK BRIGHTER, BUT ROWE NOT WAITING FOR ECONOMY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 24, 1993                   TAG: 9301260165
SECTION: ECONOMY                    PAGE: EC-24   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
FURNITURE OUTLOOK BRIGHTER, BUT ROWE NOT WAITING FOR ECONOMY
The American Furniture Manufacturers Association projects consumer spending for furniture could surge 9.3 percent this year and enjoy another increase of 8.4 percent in 1994.
That compares to a 5.2 increase in '92, 5.5 percent in '91 and 4.4 percent in '90.
Gerald Birnbach, chairman of Rowe Furniture, said he isn't going to get that specific. Nor does he know how the association arrives at its figures.
"I don't know whether that includes inflation or not," Birnbach said.
What he does know is that his company ended its 1992 fiscal year with a profit and that it ended its 1991 year with a loss, its first in 10 years.
He's pleased with Rowe's performance, but said it's too early to tell how the industry will do as a whole.
"Business seems a little better. People seem to be in a friendlier frame of mind. A new man has been elected. But we'll get a truer gauge by early summer," Birnbach said.
He thinks his company's success can't be overlaid onto the industry.
Rowe, like others "that have gotten their companies in order," has been able to reflect better numbers mainly because of changes within, Birnbach said.
"Business is still tough out there and we anticipate that in our planning," he said. "We haven't raised our prices in three years and we're making a better product."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB