The July 17 issue of HOMEWORLD BUSINESS® features the 18th annual Impact Merchants special report. Housewares suppliers, representing the categories that HomeWorld covers, once again were asked to nominate buyers and merchandisers believed to have made a significant impact during the past year.
The selection of the 21 Impact Merchant winners is not intended as a definitive list of the best merchants in housewares retailing. Votes went to several more merchandisers than those featured. This year’s honorees represent buyers in given categories that received the majority of votes by vendors polled.
Voters were asked to give added weight to merchandising creativity, trend and marketing astuteness, attention to detail, openness to risk, flexibility, relationship building and the ability to deliver a profitable program for both the vendors and retailer while providing value to consumers. One thing this year’s Impact Merchants share is a vote of respect by their vendors. In today’s unpredictable retail environment, that vote really counts.
Amy Eshuys, Christmas Tree Shops, Buyer, Furniture
Christmas Tree Shops has evolved over the years since its purchase by Bed Bath & Beyond, and Amy Eshuys has been an integral part of the evolution of furniture buying responsibilities at the retailer. For doing so with some demonstrable success, she is one of this year’s Impact Merchants.
A New England-based operation originally, Christmas Tree Shops has been expanding under Bed Bath & Beyond ownership entering new markets in the Middle Atlantic States, the South and the Midwest. At the same time, Bed Bath & Beyond has been updating the store format and adding the designation And That! to the banner as it seeks to give consumers in new markets an understanding that the retail operation is more than a seasonal products provider.
The company has updated Christmas Tree Shop operations to provide an in-store proposition that helps the consumer quickly understand a value proposition that puts the banner in a more competitive position with offpricers than Bed Bath & Beyond’s namesake stores might assume.
As Christmas Tree Shops has evolved, Eshuys has had to do the same, both in store and online, and her nomination for vendor as an Impact Merchant demonstrates appreciation in the way she has done so.
Eshuys is a graduate of Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. She held positions buying positions at Big W, a division of the Woolworths Group, in that country before joining Bed Bath & Beyond.
2017 HomeWorld Business Impact Merchants (click on name for profile):
- Jennifer Cotreau, Wayfair
- Liz Anderson, Sam’s Club
- Jason Kloster, Walmart
- Tamara Rosenkranz, Williams Sonoma
- Melissa Cameron, Tuesday Morning
- Alison Alness-Richmond, Target
- Dan Williams, Best Buy
- Carol Nakauchi, Dollar General
- Natalia Goncalves, BrandsMart
- Jason Perez, Costco
- Tracy Godshall, Bed Bath & Beyond
- Kanani McNerthney, Kroger/Fred Meyer
- Jason Rogers, Walmart
- Karen & Brad Hughes, Artichoke
- Kim Kimbriel, The Container Store
- Alison Fosbenner, Lowe’s
- Harry Jacobs, HomeGoods
- Amy Eshuys, Christmas Tree Shops
- Sean Le Deit, Houzz
- Brad Wiesner, Bed Bath & Beyond
