Cecile B. Corral has been a product editor with Home Textiles Today since late 2000. She covers the area and accent rug, kitchen textiles, table linens, beach towels, decorative bath and decorative pillow categories, as well as some retail subjects. en-us http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413.html?nid=3787 Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information. Subject to its Terms of Use November 11, 2009 http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/1990044999.html?nid=3787 My eco-obsessed husband and brother were hoping to take on a challenge that several others have attempted but few have achieved - a week with... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/200042420.html?nid=3787 Struggling retailers out there might feel the pressure to compete in price and merchandise with Wal-Mart in like markets. &nbs... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/880042288.html?nid=3787 I just wrapped up my coverage of New York Home Fashions Market last week, and much like HTT editor-in-chief Jennifer Marks noted in her blog, I s... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/320041232.html?nid=3787 Listened to Target’s fourth quarter call yesterday and was not surprised to hear its home business was down, again. With home performan... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/600040860.html?nid=3787 A couple of weeks back I talked about my friend -- a former Macy's buyer who left the retailer last month to take over ... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/590040859.html?nid=3787 A couple of weeks back I talked about my friend -- a former Macy's buyer who left the retailer last month to take over ... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/1610040561.html?nid=3787 I don’t get to shop Pottery Barn Kids (or any of the Pottery Barn nameplates, for that matter) much on my tight, middle-class-with-young-chil... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/1430040343.html?nid=3787 My mailbox mourns, for lo, no more Domino. Now that the shelter magazine that brought modish décor within reach to the masses is go... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/840040284.html?nid=3787 A sign of the times, part 2: My best friend, who two years ago left Miami to be closer to her family in Northern California, called me thi... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/1390040139.html?nid=3787 A friend of mine recently left her post as a young miss apparel buyer for Macy’s to try something “totally different.” She bough... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/1960039996.html?nid=3787 In 2009, consumers "will act rationally," meaning they will restrict their shopping to what they need, "and they don't need much,&qu... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/1720039772.html?nid=3787 On the light -- and even maybe fun -- side of President and Mrs. Barack Obama’s hefty to-do list these days is the matter of redecorating the... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/260036226.html?nid=3787 Holiday shopping doesn't begin to consume me until the long Thanksgiving weekend. The frenzied crowds boost my adrenaline and spur my credit card s... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/230029023.html?nid=3787 Over the past few months, many industry contacts have talked about their clandestine efforts to pursue alternative channels to sell their wares. I ... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/660024066.html?nid=3787 When Williams-Sonoma Inc. -- which HTT this year ranked as the 10th largest home textiles retailer in the country -- says it is bracing itself... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/850022885.html?nid=3787 Good news for me (and bad news for my husband): Kohl’s is heading to Miami. During Kohl's fourth quarter and yearend earnings call last w... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/1590020759.html?nid=3787 It seems the high-end consumer, the non-working lady of the house with a wallet bedecked in credit cards and a back account replete with ac... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/1310019331.html?nid=3787 Despite the tense relations between the U.S. and Iran, carpets and other textile floor coverings are about the only product the U.S. can legally im... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/1960018196.html?nid=3787 A quick Christmas shopping store traffic comparison for you I went to Target this past weekend, the first weekend in December. Saturday at 9:30 ... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/1430017143.html?nid=3787 It's interesting to see Martha Stewart taking the lead role in Macy's holiday marketing, almost mothering other popular celebrities like Jessica Si... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/1850016785.html?nid=3787 What do Paris Hilton, Janet Jackson, American Idol, autism, cancer and Harry Potter have to do with home textiles? Aside from the fact that all ... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/1330016333.html?nid=3787 Surprise, surprise. Upon IKEA opening its first doors in the Sunshine State -- last week in Broward County -- South Floridians went bonke... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/200015620.html?nid=3787 This week I learned about the 150th birthday of a small, single-unit department store -- Weaver's -- tucked in the community of Lawrence, Kansas. ... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/1200015120.html?nid=3787 Halloween. It's always been a favorite holiday of mine. And now that I have young children, I enjoy it more than ever. My five-year-old daughter h... http://www.hometextilestoday.com/blog/130000413/post/970014697.html?nid=3787 Martha Hacked?! For a brief moment today, somewhere between 3:28 and 3:41 p.m., Martha Stewart was "linked" with Darth Vader, Luke Skywa...