Connie Post’s newest colorway debuting at the summer markets-Celebrations-is an apt description of the mood here at IMAX Worldwide Home as we head into the coming season.

We’re excited to announce a licensing agreement with designer Nikki Chu debuting at the Summer 2014 markets. Featuring high-quality accent furniture and home accessories, the new collection will reflect Nikki’s sense of timeless style and her talent for designing environments that are sleek and serene with touches of glamour.

Another upbeat note is the positive reception to our growing furniture line. The new Aviator Chair was a clear hit at the High Point Market, and the leather furniture options—including a full-size sofa and loveseat—present a variety of new merchandising options and opportunities that enable retailers who wouldn’t typically carry furniture to expand into new categories with minimal commitment or risk.

Here at IMAX, that’s a key approach. Says Rex Yoakley, “We know retailers look to us for consistently good service and fresh products, but also for the value of the merchandising solutions we seek to provide. In today’s competitive marketplace, we don’t believe any company can expect to simply provide product at a price. We believe it’s vital to support our customers by bringing great ideas to the table as well, ideas like color-coordinated accessories for example, that not only make it easy for retailers to create exciting displays, but address consumers’ fears about making costly decorating mistakes.”

As we continue our 30^th Anniversary celebration this summer, you can count on a lot more exciting and profit-generating programs to come. Watch for a number of new trends like He Said/She Said, our updated take on office accessories that are colorful and super fun and stay tuned for another exciting addition to our family of design talents coming soon!

After the long winter, we’re quite pleased to see that Summer has finally(!) arrived and business is on the upswing. Consumers are shaking off their cabin fever and we made sure our customers were ready for them with trend-right product introductions at both the winter and spring markets. Among the hits were the new color way additions to Connie’s Essentials line, including Marine Blue, Apple Green, Coral and Mellow Yellow, and lamp designer Becky Fletcher’s new lamps with her signature, embellished shades.

Our new distribution center and warehouse facilities in the Los Angeles area, which opened in January, are now coming fully online as well. We’ve operated out of four buildings in Tulsa for decades, so the IMAX team is energized to finally have our entire distribution facility located under one roof. We want to thank everyone for weathering the transition with patience and good humor. We’re all looking forward to more efficient operations, and we know you are too.

Just as exciting was the June 2nd grand opening of our new 10,000-square-foot showroom that our SO/CAL customers will enjoy access to on a daily basis. Of course, all of our customers are invited to shop the showroom anytime you are in the area, and we think it’s definitely worth seeing. For the first time ever our visual team was presented with a blank slate and the result is a refreshing, and idea-packed shopping experience that underscores the creative strengths that set IMAX apart in the marketplace.