We keep looking at that, looking at whether it’s the sofa, the coffee table, the rug. I mean, when you take the product down like-for-like and you really look at it in person, look at the price, I feel very good about where we sit. There’s always a few exceptions. There’s always a few opening price points that I wish were sharper. Those are the opening price points of the place that I want to get back to be more competitive as we were pre-pandemic. Those are the areas where I think everybody got a little too high. But in total, I really don’t think it’s a competitive pricing issue because it’s hard to match our goods against anyone else’s goods. Now, in terms of inventory in the channel, Bed Bath & Beyond has a ton of inventory that they’re pressing and going to continue to press a deep markdowns.
Again, different products. But will that hurt everybody on the fringes, that one might be the biggest factor going — but the Wayfair and the Amazon, those guys are the biggest out there, but it’s just — it’s a very different business. So you might buy one thing from them for your garage or something, but you’re not going to furnish your living room, your full bedroom from some of those brands — our customer won’t anyways, because what they’re looking for is a much higher quality level and design sensibility, and they want someone to help them put it together. So, those are, I think, the factors at play. We just have to make sure that we’re not distracted by a short-term blip and that we are all focused on what we’ve built here and continuing to feed it, which means innovation, innovation in product and service and continuing to press forward when everyone else is doing duck and cover.
And that’s the thing — I mean it’s exciting, even though it’s a different hand than we expected to be dealt right now. It’s an exciting time to really think about it offensively. And what’s the company that we want to look like and again, make improvements to if this is a recession, what are we going to look like on the other side of it? And I think when you saw us come out of ’08, we were stronger and we’re much stronger coming out of the pandemic. And whatever this is going to be, I would say the same thing, we’re going to be much stronger coming out of this, too.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Chuck Grom with Gordon Haskett.
Chuck Grom: Historically, there’s been a nice lead-lag relationship between housing turnover and furniture sales. I’m curious, Laura, do you think that relationship still exists, or has it been decoupled? If you listen to the home improvement names over the past week, they’re seeming to suggest that this time is different and that we are seeing some decoupling, which could indirectly be good for your business over the next couple of years.
Laura Alber: Yes. I mean, I just think this is a — people are nervous sort of situation. As I said earlier, Lowe’s, Home Depot, they’re really very optimistic. I’m sure everybody listened to their calls and people still love their homes. And the sentiment is still I want a nicer home, I want a second home, I want a bigger home. Now they’re not going to buy one because nobody wants to buy right now. That doesn’t mean that you don’t still love your home, you don’t want to still spend money on it. And so, the renovation, a lot of those renovation projects are still lagging from the pandemic when you couldn’t even get a refrigerator, right? You still can’t get a refrigerator. And so, you’re not done with your kitchen, so you’re not fishing your kitchen yet.
