Adapt or Close. How Smart Furniture Companies Navigate Tariff Turbulence

Originally published June 18, 2025. This version was rebuilt from Census, Kirkland's announcement and CPSC recall notices for the FIN archive, and the facts are as of that date.

Mid-June 2025 offered three different examples of adaptation. Shoppers kept buying, one struggling home retailer reinvented itself, and regulators kept enforcing the dresser safety standard against online sellers.

The short version

• Census showed May furniture store sales up 8.8% from a year earlier.
• Kirkland's said it would rebrand as The Brand House Collective.
• CPSC announced recalls of dressers sold on Amazon and on Walmart.com.

Sales hold up

The Census Bureau's advance estimate showed May sales at furniture and home furnishings stores up 1.2% from April and 8.8% from a year earlier. Some of that likely reflected shoppers buying ahead of expected tariff price increases.

Kirkland's becomes a brand house

Kirkland's announced plans to rebrand as The Brand House Collective and accelerate converting stores to Bed Bath & Beyond and other brand names it licenses. The home decor chain was betting that recognizable names would bring shoppers back.

Dressers recalled

The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced recalls of YaFiti dressers sold on Amazon and GIKPAL dressers sold on Walmart.com for tip-over and entrapment hazards and for violating the federal standard for clothing storage units. Both were sold by third-party sellers through big online marketplaces.

Adapting in different ways

Strong sales gave retailers some room, but brands were being reshuffled and safety rules were being enforced on online sellers. Compliance was part of staying competitive.

Related on FIN

• Every Door in Town
• Furniture Store Sales Fell 2.7%. Every Other Category Grew.

Sources

• U.S. Census Bureau, Advance monthly retail sales, May 2025
• Kirkland's, Inc., Rebrand as The Brand House Collective (June 17, 2025)
• U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, YaFiti dresser recall
• U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, GIKPAL dresser recall