retail watch | Oct 30, 2025 |
Retail earnings reveal surprise winners and losers

Big public furniture retailers are beginning to announce their latest quarterly financial results, and it’s a mixed bag. Some have figured out how to deal with the Trumpian tariffs and even make a few bucks, but the results are far from conclusive—or universal—and the collateral damage from the president’s trade policy could still be significant for many players when everything is finally added up.

In numbers released over the past few days, the most encouraging news (at least from a top-line perspective) came from giant e-tailer Wayfair, which showed a nice—and surprising—8.1 percent year-over-year increase in its third quarter. Its bottom line, however, remained coated in red ink, showing a $99 million loss. On an operating basis, the company showed earnings per share of 70 cents, and both the revenue and adjusted earnings beat analyst forecasts. CEO Niraj Shah specifically said the retailer was not getting slammed by tariffs, and its positive top-line results were the product of better marketing initiatives as well as its first physical store.

Havertys, the Southeast-centric chain, was also a winner, with sales up a surprising 10.6 percent for the quarter overall, even better than the comp store increase of 7.1 percent. Earnings, however, did take a small drop, with net income of $4.7 million, down from $4.9 million a year ago.

Havertys CEO Steven Burdette said strong Labor Day results and strategic marketing investments were key factors in the gains for the quarter. There was little talk of tariffs from the company.

Ethan Allen, which should be outperforming many of its competitors thanks to its heavily North American manufacturing base (accounting for 75 percent of its sales), instead said it felt a different Trumpian jab: Its sales to government offices were down. No surprise, as many of those offices are being closed while the federal government is being cut back, and obviously don’t need as much furniture. The government shutdown came after the company’s reporting period, meaning more pain in that sector of Ethan Allen’s business is likely still to come.

For the second quarter of its 2026 fiscal year, Ethan Allen said net sales declined nearly 5 percent, from $154.3 million to $147 million. The wholesale side of the business, which would have included those government sales, written orders declined 7.1 percent, but on the retail side, they increased 5.2 percent. Earnings were 43 cents a share, versus 58 cents a share a year ago, just missing analyst forecasts of 44 cents.

Bed Bath & Beyond, which despite its namesake brand, still appears to be focused more on furniture, outdoor and rugs thanks to its origins as Overstock.com, is one player that is still struggling to adapt to the current marketplace. It reported a 17 percent decline in revenues, to $257.2 million (analysts had expected $259.8 million). The company did narrow its loss to $4.5 million, or 7 cents a share, compared with a loss of $61 million, or $1.33 a share, a year earlier.

In the meantime, Bed Bath & Beyond continues to make never-ending changes in its management structure, bringing a former Walmart and Ashley executive Rick Lockton to fill the newly created position of executive vice president and chief digital, product and technology officer.

In the announcement yesterday, Marcus Lemonis, executive chairman and principal executive officer (which also appears to be a new title)—and someone who never seems to miss a chance to spin the news away from disappointing financial results—said: “As we evolve from a pure-play retailer to a complete home ecosystem provider, we remain laser focused on strengthening our online retail foundation.”

Other retailers, including Arhaus and Williams-Sonoma, will be reporting their results over the next few weeks, while RH—an industry outlier in so many ways—will not report next until December 11.

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Warren Shoulberg is the former editor in chief for several leading B2B publications. He has been a guest lecturer at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business; received honors from the International Furnishings and Design Association and the Fashion Institute of Technology; and been cited by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and other media as a leading industry expert. His Retail Watch columns offer deep industry insights on major markets and product categories.

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