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Another home furnishings retail chain has sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it deals with higher costs, reduced sales, a downturn in the housing market, and President Trump’s tariffs. American Signature Inc (ASI), parent company of American Signature Furniture and Value City Furniture, said Sunday that it has secured $50 million in debt financing as it seeks a buyer in an auction process. Here’s what to know. What is ASI and why is it bankrupt? Founded it 1948 and based in Columbus, Ohio, American Signature Inc is the parent company of two home furnishings retail chains: American Signature Furniture and Value City Furniture. Combined, the company has 120 stores across 17 states, it said in a court declaration over the weekend. The Value City brand is spread out across more states, with stores in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. American Signature, meanwhile, has locations in Delaware, Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee. Additionally, the company has distribution centers in Ohio, Georgia, Indiana, and California, two of which are owned and two of which are leased. ASI employs roughly 3,000 people. As for why it’s filing for bankruptcy, the retailer noted that it had experienced a period of rapid growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, but that sales have slipped over the last year. It cites a number of reasons for its dire straits, notably “one of the most severe housing market declines in recent history.” Macroeconomic factors including rising interest rates and inflation have further exasperated the situation for ASI, as have “newly established tariffs.” Which stores are closing as part of this process? The company said in its bankruptcy announcement that it expects stores to remain open throughout the process. However, in court filings it has identified five locations that it plans to close by early next year: Value City Furniture: 2320 Sardis Road North, Charlotte, NC 28227 American Signature Furniture: 1770 Galleria Blvd, Franklin, TN 37067 American Signature Furniture: 2130 Gallatin Pike North, Madison, TN 37115 American Signature Furniture: 2821 Wilma Rudolph Blvd, Clarksville, TN 37040 American Signature Furniture: 2075 Old Fort Parkway, Murfreesboro, TN 37129 Liquidation sales have already begun at these locations and are expected to be completed by the end of January 2026, court filings show. The company has enlisted SB360 Capital Partners to help with store closings and has warned that additional stores may close as the consultation process continues. It was not immediately clear how many job losses are expected. Fast Company reached out to ASI for additional details and will update this post if we hear back. What happens next? ASI has entered into an agreement with a so-called stalking horse bidder owned by the Schottenstein family, whom Columbus Monthly has referred to as the Ohio capital’s “last dynasty.” Holding company Schottenstein Stores Corporation also owns American Signature Inc, meaning the furniture chain could stay in the family. However, American Signature plans to seek a higher bidder during an auction process within about 45 days. American Signature’s bankruptcy follows a similar move by fellow home furnishings retailer At Home, which sought Chapter 11 protection in June and has closed a number of locations this year. This story is developing…
Category:
E-Commerce
World shares and U.S. futures were mixed on Monday after Wall Street was buoyed by revived hopes for an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was nearly unchanged.Germany’s DAX gained 0.5% to 23,201.85, while the CAC 40 edged less than 0.1% lower to 7,978.77. Britain’s FTSE 100 inched up 0.1% to 9,547.77.Markets in Japan were closed for a holiday.Hong Kong’s benchmark, the Hang Seng, rose 2% to 25,716.50. It got a boost from a 4.7% gain for e-commerce giant Alibaba, which has reported strong demand for its updated Qwen AI app. Alibaba is due to report earnings on Tuesday.The Shanghai Composite index rose less than 0.1% to 3,836.77.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.3% to 8,525.10.In South Korea, the Kospi reversed early gains, falling 0.2% to 3,846.06 on heavy selling of automakers.Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.3% and the Sensex in India shed 0.4%.This week, U.S. markets will be closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday, which will be followed by the Black Friday and Cyber Monday retail rushes.After last week’s ups and downs over AI and Nvidia, traders will focus more on “the backbone of U.S. growth, the consumer, whose spending still drives two-thirds of GDP,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.Data on the U.S. economy was scarce during the 6-week U.S. government shutdown, leaving investors struggling to parse trends in the economy.“This makes any sniff of holiday activity foot traffic, discount depth, card authorizations disproportionately important. In a data desert, even a puddle looks like a lake,” he said.On Friday, the S&P 500 gained 1% and the Dow climbed 1.1%. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.9%. Nearly 90% of stocks in the S&P 500 advanced.It was a fitting finish for a week that left the S&P 500 just 4.2% below its record but also forced investors to stomach the sharpest hour-to-hour swings since a sell-off in April. The jarring moves are testing investors following a monthslong and remarkably smooth surge for stocks, and they come down to two basic as-yet unanswered questions.Have prices for Nvidia, bitcoin and other stars of Wall Street shot too high? And is the Federal Reserve done with its cuts to interest rates, which would boost the economy and prices for investments?Markets took heart from a speech by the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, John Williams, who told a conference in Chile that he sees “room for a further adjustment” to interest rates.Other Fed officials have argued against a December cut, saying inflation is still too high.In the bond market, Treasury yields eased Friday on hopes for cuts from the Fed. Traders are now betting on a nearly 72% probability of a December cut, up sharply from 39% a day before, according to data from CME Group. That helped send the yield on the 10-year Treasury to 4.06% from 4.10% late Thursday.In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 43 cents to $57.63 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 38 cents to $61.56 a barrel.The U.S. dollar rose to 156.75 Japanese yen from 156.47 yen. The euro climbed to $1.1537 from $1.1516.Bitcoin was up 1.6%, near $86,000. On Friday, it briefly plunged below $81,000 before pulling back toward $85,000. That’s down from nearly $125,000 last month and brought it back to where it was in April, when markets were shaking because of President Donald Trump’s higher tariffs. Elaine Kurtenbach, AP Business Writer
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E-Commerce
Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! Im Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. Being a life sciences CEO is not for the faint of heart. Drug discovery and patent approvals are costly and time-consuming, and even if an executive can steer a company to clinical trials, theres a very small chance the product will be commercialized. One study says that 90% of clinical drug development fails because the treatment didnt have its intended impact, had the wrong formulations, or harmed patients. You have a business challenge, a science challenge, a clinical trial challenge, and a regulatory challenge, says Kevin Conroy, CEO of the colorectal cancer screening company Exact Sciences. Its like solving a complex puzzle, and theres simply no guarantee of success. When companies do solve that puzzle, the rewards can be huge: As Modern CEO went to press, Exact Sciences announced it was selling to Abbott in a deal valued at $21 billion. Still, biotech and health technology companies are now confronting an additional burden: simmering science skepticism. Pew Research Center found that in 2024, 76% of Americans believed that scientists act in the publics best interest, up slightly from 2023 but down 10 points from pre-pandemic levels. A new survey from Pew shows that 24% of parents of school-age children question whether vaccines have undergone enough safety testing. Rebuilding trust in science Some lawmakers are fanning the flames. Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called for changes in the ways vaccines are tested. The White House has cut budgets at the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, and moved to terminate federal funding to universities, all of which participate in the funding of medical and science research. Conroy says the current environment is a call to action to the biosciences industry to help rebuild trust with the public and lawmakers. How can we in this field show success that brings back a stronger belief in science, in data, in clinical studies, in evidence generation? he asks. I think its our responsibility to do that. According to Conroy, Exact Sciences isnt facing any societal or political headwinds. It makes a colon cancer test (if youre a certain age, youve probably been served ads for its Cologuard Kit) that will screen five million people for cancer this year. Science skepticism hasnt touched cancer screening, he says. People on the left and right are touched equally by cancer. Still, Exact Sciences and other science companies have benefited from an ecosystem of government-funded research, rigorous approvals, and endorsements that make the U.S. a biotech innovation powerhouse. Exact Sciences was founded in 1995 by an engineer who wanted to develop an alternative to colonoscopies, but the company struggled for years to develop a test. Conroy joined in 2009 after meeting with David Ahlquist, a Mayo Clinic physician who had spent 20 years researching noninvasive colon cancer detectionresearch funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, and the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. Exact Sciences collaborated with Ahlquist on an approach that tests a patients stool for abnormal DNA or blood cells that might indicate the presence of colon cancer. Cologuard received FDA approval in 2014, after a huge clinical trial involving 10,000 patients; that same year the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it intended to cover the test, and the American Cancer Society included the test in its colon cancer screening guidelinesa key recommendation that helped build public trust in the at-home kit. Exact Sciences would not be here without federally funded research at the Mayo Clinic, Conroy says. Follow the data Conroy notes that all businesses can gain from a scientific approachrunning experiments, conceding when something doesnt work (even if youve invested time and money in the research), and following the data. At Exact Sciences, such rigor extends beyond the lab. Before the company launched its kits, the team tested two different product designs for sample collectiona scoop and a container. The team thought consumers would favor the scoop, but research showed 85% of users preferred the container. We would have made a big mistake if we had trusted our gut, Conroy says. A lot of times youre so passionate as a CEO, you skip all of those steps and just bulldoze your way toward the answer youd like to see. Im as guilty of that as the next CEO. I asked Conroy how biotech executives can help restore trust in science and rally support for the broader system of grants and research funding now under fire. He notes that he travels to Washington from Exact Sciences headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, every quarter to meet with lawmakers, largely to advocate for early detection of diseases but also to talk about innovation and discovery. Every CEO in this field should be doing the same thing. Its too important for Americas competitiveness, he says. Deadline extended Were extending the deadline for Modern CEO of the Year nominations by a few days. If you or someone you know has had a standout 2025, please fill out this nomination form by November 28. Well name the Modern CEO of the Year on December 29. Read more: science in focus This Sam Altmanbacked CEO is using AI to get drugs to market faster The most innovative biotech companies of 2025 Why Jennifer Doudna is one of the 10 most innovative people of the last 10 years
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E-Commerce
Every good salesperson knows the 7-step process in which you identify and qualify a prospect to understand their needs, then present your offer, overcome objections, close the sale and follow up. Its proven so consistently effective that its concepts have been the standard for training salespeople for decades. Many business leaders come up through sales and marketing, so it shouldnt be surprising that they try to use similar persuasion techniques for large-scale change. They work to understand the needs of their target market, craft a powerful message, overcome any objections and then follow-through on execution. Unfortunately, thats a terrible strategy. The truth is that the urge to persuade is often a red flag. It means you either have the wrong people or the wrong idea. Effective change strategy focuses on collective dynamics. Rather than trying to shape opinions, youre much better off empowering people who are already enthusiastic about the idea and working to shape networks. The power of persuasion Experts have a lot of ideas about persuasion. Some suggest leveraging social proof, to show that people have adopted the idea and had a positive experience. Others emphasize the importance of building trust and using emotional rather than analytical arguments. Still others insist on creating a unified value proposition. For 35 years, psychologist Robert Cialdini researched which types of communication were effective and which were not. He found that influence is based on six key principles: reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, authority, liking, and scarcity. More recently, Wharton Professor Jonah Berger has used data analysis to come up with his SPEACC framework. In recent years, a number of conversation-based practices, such as Deep Canvassing, Street Epistemology, and the Change Conversation Pyramid, have emerged that focus on a method called technique rebuttal. These focus on listening empathetically to build rapport and identifying common ground, then encouraging the target to engage in metacognition to examine how they arrived at their own conclusions. These all are, for the most part, worthwhile and can be effective. However, its also important to remember that the first two steps in the sales process are identifying and qualifying prospects so that when you are presenting your offer, it is to people who are eager, or at least open, to what youre trying to sell. Nobody would recommend wasting time and effort on trying to sell to those who have no interest in buying. Yet with large-scale change, thats not an option. Your environment will include the entire spectrum, from active supporters to active resistors. That means that for a significant portion of people, persuasive techniques will not be effective. The limits of communication We like to think that our minds work like computers, taking in evidence through our five senses and then processing that information in our brains to arrive at conclusions. Persuasion techniques tend to focus on glitches in that machinery in the form of cognitive biases, in order to get us to see things in another light. Yet we are wired to be social creatures. As we engage in collective action with others, we form group identities and seek to build status amongst our own tribe. Part of achieving the status we desire is showing loyalty and adherence to collective principles, so we take steps to signal to others that we remain loyal members in good standing and expect the same of them. Thats why we are greatly shaped by the people around us. Decades of studies indicate that we tend to conform to the opinions and behaviors of those around us and this effect extends out to three degrees of relationships. So not only do our friends friends influence us deeply, but their friends toopeople that we dont even knowaffect what we think. Thats why communication strategies will always be limited. We can carefully craft messages to align with the influence techniques of Cialdini and Berger, listen with empathy and employ the methods of technique rebuttal to successfully persuade someone to come to our way of thinking. But when they go back and get embedded in their social networks once again, theyre very likely to return to their earlier way of thinking. To wit, when David McRaney, while researching his book How Minds Change, sought out people who left cults or turned their backs on conspiracy theories he found that, invariably, the change in their opinion was preceded by a significant change in their social networks. Why incentives backfire Another common persuasion tactic is the use of incentives, based on the belief that changing incentives will automatically change behaviors. However, incentives frequently fall short and can even backfire dramatically. Sometimes this is due to the same identity and dignity issue that make people resistant to influence techniques, but also because people often act in unpredictable ways that arent immediately obvious. Consider what happened in an experiment where daycare centers imposed fines for parents who were late picking up their children. Instead of cutting down on late pickups, they increased. As it turned out, parents saw the fine as a fee for convenience which they were happy to pay. There is also significant evidence that extrinsic incentives crowd out intrinsic and reputational motivations. For example, in an experiment in which subjects were asked to solve a puzzle, those who were paid a flat fee were much more likely to continue to work during free time than those who were paid for each puzzle solved. Yet there is one kind of incentive that does seem to work consistently and it taps into the same forces of group identity that make people resistant to other forms of influence. Its called prosocial behavior. We are more likely to perform when we understand and identify with who our work benefits than when they are given financial incentives or fed some slogan. In a study by Adam Grant, the performance of call center employees more than doubled when they had regular conversations with people who benefited from their work. Lisa Earle McLeod and Elizabeth Lotardo report in an article in Harvard Business Review that similar results have been found in studies of lifeguards, hospital workers, and sales teams. Going to where the energy is Transformation efforts often center on communication, aiming to build awareness, desire, and knowledge about change, while building a sense of urgency and excitement. So leaders craft persuasive messages and broadcast them widely. Yet, after months of happy talk, they often find their efforts not only fell on deaf ears but also provoked deep, intense resistance. The truth is that change isnt about persuasion, but collective dynamics. Decades of research has shown that change spreads through peer networks rather than communication campaigns. Or, as network science pioneer Duncan Watts once put it to me, ideas propagate through easily influenced people influencing other easily influenced people. Thats why you need to be wary about the urge to persuade. You want to go where the energy already is, not try and create and maintain it yourself. Find people who are already enthusiastic, empower them to succeed and they can bring in others, who can bring in others still. As Watts research has found, even a small initial shift can cascade into massive transformation. The evidence is clear: You dont need to win over everyone at once. If you find yourself spending most of your energy trying to convince the skeptical or overpowering resistance, you are either focusing on the wrong people or you have the wrong idea. Instead of trying to push through, you need to regroup, reassess and identify where your efforts can be better placed.
Category:
E-Commerce
The line had just died down at Hong Kongs Apple flagship store on Canton Road when I arrived on what happened to be the release day for the iPhone Pocket, the companys new and very buzzed-about design collaboration between Apple and Issey Miyake Design Studio. I purchased it immediatelya short one in Sapphire blue, as the cross-body version was already sold out. I observed neither pomp nor circumstance with the overwrought packaging, which I shed on the spot despite its velum-bound elegance and prominent Miyake branding. I was on a working vacation after all, and so I simply looped the Pocket around the strap of my nylon cross-body bag and went about my day in a city whose entire experience is all but governed by smartphone technology. I was going to have to use the thing, not just look at it. Awkwardness ensued. Bouncing around on my thigh beneath the weight of my phone, the Pocket felt like a surprising, unwanted appendage. An attempt to access the Mass Trasnsit Railway (MTR) system by tapping my phone through the Pocket failed, which meant I had to remove the phone from the pocket altogether. (I accidentally dropped my phone while trying to quickly slip it back into the Pocket amidst the throngs of fellow passengers hustling past me.) [Photo: Apple] On a quick trip to Shenzhen, China the following day, I experienced a moment of panic before I realized that my Pocket hadnt been pickpocketed, but rather I had simply intuitively placed my phone in my bag, its familiar location, rather than fiddling with my newest accessory. [Photo: Apple] At an eyebrow-raising $229.95 for the crossbody version and $149.95 for the shorter version, the limited-edition iPhone Pocket might simply be dismissed as an overpriced marketing gimmick, despite Apples long history of collaborating with luxury fashion brands. In my case, I am an inveterate fan of the late Issey Miyakes work, which I collect in various vintages and frequently wear. I can simply look at the iPhone Pocket and see its potential for abject failure as a functional design object, and yet the Issey lover in me deeply appreciates the way his studios clothing and accessories challenge commonly held notions around how a piece of cloth should behave. Miyakes designs are infamous, in part, for the way they play against the body, allowing the wearer exceptional freedom in how they position the garment. There is no right way to wear Miyake. The iPhone Pockets pleats not only allow the accessory to morph in shape according to its contents, but it allows that alteration to remain visible. (Similarly, the shape of the ubiquitous Lucent bag, for example, is designed to distort as the bag is filled with objects.) [Photo: Apple] The relationship between Apple founder Steve Jobs and Issey Miyake himself is the stuff of legend: Miyake personally designed the black, mock-neck turtleneck that Jobs infamously paired with his Levis 501 jeans and New Balance shoes. Jobs, like many tech executives since, preferred to adopt a uniform as a means of reducing the cognitive load associated with choosing ones clothing on a daily basis. Indeed, many Miyake megafans, myself included, are drawn to the kind of strangely unique uniformity one may achieve in wearing his clothing. The Pleats Please line, in particular, can be styled endlessly and sits effortlessly against the body in a way that begs for common wear. [Photo: Apple] The iPhone Pocket, in contrast, offers frictionand a lot of it. The Miyake Design Studio team knows it, too: Recently quoted in The New York Times, Yoshiyuki Miyamae, the studios design director, said that design should be leaving things a little bit less defined to allow more creativity from the user side. He also questioned whether the American market was ready for such a development. While its true that Americans are less likely to follow the trend of wearing their phones across their bodies, as is commonly seen in Asia, the iPhone Pocket simply looks strange in a way that may brstle against more practical sensibilities. [Photo: Apple] The sensationalization of the iPhone Pocketit has already been panned by the popular press and meme-ified across the internetposes a stranger version of the initial fervor that surrounded the iPhone itself. (The last time I waited in line to purchase something from Apple was in San Francisco, the day the first iPhone was released!) People dont quite know what to make of it yet, even though Apple does hold a precedent in its 2004 iPhone Sock, a much cheaper and similarly intentioned, if less intentionally designed object. As Miyake Design Studio apparently planned, the onus for the design success of the iPhone Pocket seems to be placed squarely on its owner, which isa risky proposition given the tension it poses, as an object, with the sleek minimalism of Apples design philosophy. In terms of branding, it could be argued that the heavier lift lies with Miyake over Apple, as Miyake holds strong name recognition in Asia, where the iPhone Pocket sold out immediately and where the demand for phone accessories is markedly higher. Its 1994 Pleats Please line has enjoyed a recent surge in popularity in the United States, yet Miyake is a far cry from a household name in America. Apple, on the converse, has a built-in, global audience for everything it produces. [Photo: Apple] Will the iPhone Pocket catch fire, or will it slip into design obscurity alongside so many other tech accessories gone by? Now freshly arrived back in New York City, Ive looped my Pocket yet again onto a sturdy leather bowler handbag along with a few other small charms for added flair. Im willing to give it another try, and am ready for the conversation (and the criticism) that will inevitably follow me.
Category:
E-Commerce
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