The Home Furnishings Association: what independents get from it

Most independent furniture owners have a few people they call when something unfamiliar happens: a vendor stops shipping, a regulation changes, or a delivery dispute becomes more complicated than expected. For many owners, a trade association is where those relationships began.

The Home Furnishings Association, or HFA, is a trade organization serving furniture retailers. It combines peer connections, education, business resources, and advocacy. Membership is worth evaluating as a working resource: which problems can it help your store solve, and will someone on the team actually use it?

What is the HFA, and whom does it serve?

HFA's own 2023 member guide describes a network of 1,500 retail members and organizes its offer around community, advocacy, resources, and education. That dated membership figure is more useful than combining different directory listings into an apparently precise current count. HFA's 2023 benefits guide.

The association's purpose is broader than negotiating the purchase price of furniture. An owner might use it to find a training session, compare an operating practice with peers, learn about a policy issue, or investigate a service provider. Those are different kinds of value and deserve separate consideration.

HFA announced that Shannon Williams would succeed Mark Schumacher as CEO effective June 1, 2024. Williams had previously served as chief operating officer. That transition is documented in the association's own announcement, rather than inferred from an old staff listing. HFA leadership announcement.

For a prospective member, the more useful next question is how the association will serve the store. Ask who handles membership support, who can introduce a suitable peer group, and how a question reaches the right specialist.

What benefits would a single-showroom store use?

A single-showroom store can use education and peer access without needing a large management team. HFA's benefits guide lists market seminars, live and recorded webinars, retailer discussions, a concierge service, and business-service programs. The practical value lies in matching those resources to a job already on the owner's list. Member benefits guide.

Choose a real issue before browsing the program list. Perhaps the receiving process needs work, a new associate needs sales training, or the owner wants to compare how other stores manage delayed special orders. A resource tied to a live problem is more likely to be used than a library of interesting material saved for a quiet month.

Ask what is included in dues and what carries an extra charge. A useful program can still cost more than membership alone. Also distinguish resources open to all members from invitation-only events.

Assign someone to bring the learning back into the store. An owner attending a receiving seminar could return with one revised check at the dock and a short explanation for staff. A folder of seminar notes has limited influence on a sofa arriving without its legs.

Do we have to belong to a buying group to join?

Association membership and buying-group participation are separate decisions. HFA's 2023 guide describes its Buying Source program as available to members who do not belong to another buying group. Its March 2024 explanation says the program provides access without an additional program fee, including negotiated discounts, rebates, and terms. HFA's buying-program explanation.

That makes the program something to investigate alongside membership, rather than a reason to assume that every vendor account will receive a better price. Ask which suppliers participate, which of your purchases qualify, how rebates are calculated and paid, and whether an existing arrangement affects participation.

The offer works through group purchasing arrangements. The merchant still needs to compare the terms that reach its own account. A discount on a line the showroom will never carry is less valuable than a modest improvement on furniture it orders regularly.

If you already belong to a buying group, begin with the overlap question. The association's education or advocacy may still interest you, while the buying program may be unavailable or redundant. Avoid counting the same expected savings twice when building the case for membership.

How does an association differ from a buying cooperative?

A trade association's central job is to serve and represent the industry or its members. A buying group's central commercial job is to combine purchasing strength. Some organizations offer both kinds of support, and the exact ownership, fees, supplier arrangements, and obligations vary.

Compare the written arrangements rather than the labels. A member-owned cooperative can involve ownership and governance provisions that differ from access to a purchasing program through an association. Sales thresholds, joining requirements, and commitments must come from that group's own offer.

The buying-group guide provides the fuller decision framework. Ask the same practical questions of both: what the store pays, what it commits to, what it receives, and what happens if it leaves.

For a small showroom, the best choice may be an association, a buying group, both, or neither. The answer follows the store's needs and supplier mix. It does not follow from another owner's enthusiastic recommendation alone.

What has HFA done on tariffs and delivery issues?

HFA has documented direct tariff advocacy. In a January 2021 account, its CEO described testimony to the U.S. Trade Representative concerning the Vietnam investigation and argued against broad tariffs that would add pressure to furniture retailers and customers. That is evidence of representation and a stated position, not proof that HFA alone determined the policy outcome. HFA's account of its testimony.

Its 2023 advocacy review also describes work around the STURDY tip-over standard and engagement with policymakers. Again, distinguish the association's account of its contribution from a claim that it wrote or single-handedly secured a law. HFA's 2023 advocacy review.

For delivery-date rules, ask for the specific state's issue, the association's work on it, and the guidance available to members. The sources here do not establish a particular delivery-law victory. Membership also does not replace the store's own review of the rule governing its customer order.

Use the furniture delivery-law guide to frame that conversation. An association can be a useful early warning and a route to informed people; it is not the store's retained legal department.

How much does membership cost, and does it pay?

Get a written dues quote from HFA for your store, including what the quote covers and how renewal works. The public membership route reviewed for this article does not provide a dependable dues figure to print here. HFA membership inquiries.

Build the value case from benefits you expect to use. Count confirmed purchasing savings separately from training, peer access, and advocacy. Some value is measurable in dollars; some is a judgment about access to knowledge and relationships. Neither improves by inventing a precise return before the store has used the service.

Say annual dues are $1,000 and a store verifies $600 in purchasing savings plus $500 it would otherwise spend on comparable training. Those illustrative figures give $1,100 of identified value before staff time or other costs. If the training will never be used, remove it from the calculation. The example is a method, not an HFA price or savings promise.

Speak with two current members who run a reasonably similar business. Ask what they used last year, what changed in the store, and what they stopped using. If a suitable event permits prospective members, attending can help test whether the conversations fit your needs.

For a market visit, add a relevant session to your High Point preparation or compare the opportunities in the furniture-fair guide. Leave enough time afterward to speak with people, rather than arriving only for the presentation.

What should we ask before joining?

• What are the dues, renewal terms, and any extra program or event charges?
• Which people and locations in our business can use the membership?
• Which benefits fit our actual suppliers and operating problems?
• How does Buying Source interact with our existing buying-group arrangements?
• Who answers a practical question, and what support falls outside membership?
• Which peer group or event would suit a single-showroom business like ours?
• What examples can you show of advocacy or education on the issues we face?
• How will we review use and value before the next renewal?

Peer conversations often turn to the ordinary special-order work: collecting deposits, recording payments, and making sure the vendor purchase order follows the accepted sale. OrderPilot keeps those payments and linked vendor POs on the order record, so a practice the owner brings home can be supported in the daily work.

Start with the buying-group comparison if purchasing terms are your main reason to join. If the main need is advice and peers, ask HFA to introduce the part of its program you would use first.

Sources

1. Member benefits guide, 2023 — Home Furnishings Association.
2. Shannon Williams CEO announcement, February 5, 2024 — Home Furnishings Association.
3. Buying-group and Buying Source explanation, March 2024 — Home Furnishings Association.
4. USTR Vietnam testimony account, January 6, 2021 — Home Furnishings Association.
5. Government Relations Action Team review, December 30, 2023 — Home Furnishings Association.
6. Membership inquiries — Home Furnishings Association.