Furniture business booms

The furniture maker is unveiling 62 new Stewart-designed pieces.
HIGH POINT, N.C. (AP) -- Martha Stewart could be headed for a bare-bones prison cell, but more folks than ever want her to furnish their homes.
As the International Home Furnishings Market opened this week, Bernhardt Furniture Co. said sales of its Martha Stewart Signature Furniture line have spiked since the decorating diva's widely publicized criminal conviction.
Demand for Stewart-designed furniture is so strong that Bernhardt is unveiling 62 new Stewart pieces, in a collection titled "Lily Pond," at the furnishings market. And a fourth Stewart collection is in the works for 2005.
"We've seen double-digit increases in sales over the past six to eight weeks," said Alex Bernhardt, chairman and chief executive of the Lenoir, N.C.-based furniture company. "And we've signed up about a dozen new customers."
Convicted in March
Stewart was convicted March 5 of lying to investigators, conspiracy and obstruction of justice, all related to her sale of ImClone Systems stock in 2001, just before it nose-dived.
Legal experts expect her to be sentenced to 10 to 16 months in prison. Stewart's attorneys are seeking a new trial.
Bernhardt said he was worried sales would take a hit when Stewart's conviction came down just as Bernhardt was shipping pieces of its third Martha Stewart line, "Turkey Hill," to retailers.
"I was braced," he said. "But it never happened."
Instead, the line has strengthened its position as Bernhardt's top performer. None of Bernhardt's 275 retail clients have canceled orders, he said
Bernhardt said Stewart even called him in the midst of her trial to ask if she could help launch the "Turkey Hill" collection.
"I told her it couldn't hurt if she called a couple of our big dealers to thank them for sticking with us," he said. "I got a call from one of our customers and he told me he received a call from Martha."
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