HFN (Home Furnishings Today), the 85-year-old-trade publication covering the home furnishings and housewares industry, has been aquired by Progressive Business Media (PBM), which owns Furniture/Today, Home & Textiles Today, Casual Living, Home Accents Today and Gifts & Decorative Accessories. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. PBM was formed in June 2013 when former investment banker Matthew Slaine acquired the Furniture Today Group from Sandow. 

“We are thrilled to add HFN and its dedicated employees to our group,” said Slaine, who is CEO of PBM. “HFN is an iconic brand with an extremely loyal readership of executives from across the home and housewares industries and it is a perfect brand to complement our existing properties. HFN provides companies in the home and housewares industry with a great forum for their informational and marketing needs, helping them reach a new group of retail leaders."

HFN's headquarters will remain in New York and the sales and editorial staffs will be retained. Some changes have been announced and include the following:

Warren Shoulberg, who served as Editor of HFN for ten years prior to joining PBM as Publisher of Home Textiles Today, will return to the publication as editorial director and contributing columnist. He will retain his current responsibilities with Home & Textiles Today.

Bill McLoughlin, chief content officer of Furniture/Today, has spent most of his career analyzing and covering the housewares industry and will lead significantly expanded editorial coverage of the housewares industry for HFN.

Kevin Castellani, president of PBM, will also take on the publisher title for HFN.

“We look forward to building on the long history of this publication and the incredible affinity HFN readers have with the brand,” said Castellani. “I worked on this publication earlier in my career and I am excited to be back to lead the team. As a resource for those who do business across the broad spectrum of the home and housewares business, nothing else compares."

In addition to her role as Publisher of Gifts & Decorative Accessories, Nancy Wolkow will also be named associate publisher at HFN and will be responsible for the housewares, tabletop and gourmet categories.

Connie Lineberry, executive vice president of PBM, will also take on the role of associate publisher for marketing at HFN. Her responsibilities will include assisting clients with expanded creative services capabilities and marketing platforms across multiple channels.

Current HFN subscribers will continue to receive their print and online copies without interruption.