Oshkosh, WI—Being in the crafts, novelties, stationery, photo album, and picture frame businesses is one thing. Being in the furniture business is a whole other matter, as multititle mailer Miles Kimball has found. Calling its Exposures Home business “a burden,” president/CEO Mike Muoio said that the June issue was its last. The company continue to mail its core catalog of gifts and novelties and Exposures, which sells photo albums, frames, and related accutrements.
“We have suspended it; ‘discontinued’ may be too harsh a word, because we’ve sort of put it on hold,” Muoio says. “We may do it again in the future, but for now we’re focusing on Exposures and Miles Kimball.” Exposures Home represented less than 10% of Kimball’s $150 million in annual sales.
Exposures Home “was a burden to the organization in terms of consuming warehouse space,” Muoio says, referring to the 450,000-sq.-ft. distribution facility the company built last year. “We weren’t in the furniture business, and it’s a whole lot different from being in the photo album and gifts business. It was getting out of control–picking, packing, shipping, storage, all were challenges to us.”
The company has cut the circulation of its two other titles 15%-20%. “We’re just making sure we can get everything out of those books,” Muoio says, who adds that the company was “just marginally break even” last year. So far this year, Kimball is running 6%-8% ahead of plan, and Exposures is running close to plan.