Z Gallerie emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Z Gallerie, a privately-held retailer of home furnishings and decorative accessories, has emerged from Chapter 11 six months after filing for bankruptcy protection.

The Gardena company said in its April filing that the economic recession, plus widespread markdowns and going-out-of-business sales at its competitors, had hurt its business.

Founded in 1979, the company now operates 54 retail locations in 18 states, a website and one outlet.

-- Andrea Chang

Discounts of 25% to 40% at Smith & Hawken liquidation sales

Home furnishings seller Smith & Hawken is holding liquidation sales at all 56 of its stores, with most discounts currently between 25% and 40% off.

The chain's store at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa yesterday was still well-stocked with patio furniture, potted plants, pillows and candles. Colorful signs promised "total blowout!" and "all furniture 40% off."

There were also some unusual items, including rubber rain boots, a copper mailbox ($159, down from $199) and a Buddha statue.

As is typical with liquidations, all sales are final and markdowns are expected to become steeper as the stores' final day approaches. A sales associate at the South Coast Plaza location said the store was expected to close in October.

-- Andrea Chang

Simplicity drop-side cribs recalled for the third time in two years

For the third time in two years, hundreds of thousands of drop-side cribs distributed by Simplicity Inc. and sold under its name have been recalled for posing an entrapment or suffocation hazard for small children.

About 400,000 Simplicity drop-side cribs were recalled today by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Children can become trapped or suffocate between the side of the crib and the mattress after hardware breaks or deforms in the bed, causing the drop side to detach and create a gap that babies can fall into, the commission said in the recall statement.

In 2007, Simplicity, which imported the cribs from China, reported the death of an 8-month-old child who suffocated after the hardware on the child's crib broke and the child fell into a gap, the statement said.

Simplicity drop-side cribs continued to pose similar hazards.

Last September, about 600,000 Simplicity drop-side cribs with similar defects were recalled. In 2007, another million Simplicity drop-side cribs were recalled.

The three recalls were for different models of Simplicity drop-side cribs, the commission said.

The commission received reports of 25 other incidents, with no injuries, involving the drop-side detaching from the crib, the recall statement said.

In six of these incidents, the drop side detached because a plastic flexible tab on the crib deformed or broke.

In four incidents the drop side detached due to connectors, tracks or other plastic parts deforming or breaking.

In two of the 25 incidents, children became trapped between the drop side and the mattress.

Simplicity's drop-side cribs were sold in department stores and children’s stores nationwide from January 2005 to June 2009, for $150 to $300, the statement said.

Simplicity and a related company, SFCA Inc. of Reading, Pa., no longer appear to be in business, the commission said.

Anyone who owns a Simplicity drop-side crib should immediately stop using the crib and find a safe place for their child to sleep, the agency said. The cribs should be immediately returned the place of purchase for a refund, replacement or store credit, the statement said.

-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Photos: Top: A recalled Simplicity drop-side crib. Bottom: A doll demonstrates how a child can become trapped between the mattress and the drop side of a crib. Credits: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Linens 'N Things is back -- but only online

Linens 'N Things, which filed for Chapter 11 last year and eventually liquidated its stores, has resurfaced as an e-commerce website at www.lnt.com.

"Promising to set the standard for what's to become the new model for many traditional brick-and-mortar retailers, the new Linens 'N Things is about creating the ultimate online shopping experience," the home retailer, now under different ownership, said in a statement.

The site offers "over 200,000 top branded products for every room in the home," including items from Calvin Klein, Vera Wang, Versace and Laura Ashley.

-- Andrea Chang

CB2 store opens in West Hollywood

Crate and Barrel's jaunty offshoot, CB2, previously was available to Southern California shoppers only online or by catalog (shipping costs!) or by flying to stores in Northern California, Chicago or New York (furniture is soooo difficult to cram into those overhead bins).

Now, nearly a decade after the chainlet debuted, CB2 has opened its first local store, and sixth overall, at 8000 W. Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood, the site of the shuttered Virgin Megastore.

Like Crate and Barrel, CB2 carries housewares, accessories and furniture but with a younger, more urban  vibe. The CB2 website says it "dials up the fun" and describes its stuff as "affordable modern" -- that is, cheaper with brighter colors and a funkier edge than at its more staid mother ship. It's definitely a step up from Target, and maybe even Ikea.

Apartmenttherapy.com, which says the store this weekend will be donating a percentage of sales to Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, has pictures here.

-- Nancy Rivera Brooks

After a three-year sales slump, Z Gallerie files for bankruptcy

Eclectic home furnishings retailer Z Gallerie has filed for bankruptcy protection after a "severe drop in sales."

The Gardena-based chain, which has 57 stores in 18 states, said it would continue to operate all of its locations during the Chapter 11 filing.

Z Gallerie said the economic recession, plus widespread markdowns and going-out-of-business sales at its competitors, had hurt its business.

“The debtor experienced uninterrupted sales growth through 2006 when sales peaked at $236 million out of 74 locations nationwide,” the bankruptcy petition, filed on Friday, read. “Since 2006, the debtor has experienced a severe drop in sales, with this decline accelerating in the last quarter of 2008 and continuing unabated in the first quarter of 2009.”

Z Gallerie said in a statement that it hoped to reorganize its operations and to unload leases from 21 stores and an Atlanta distribution center that the company began closing in February. Those stores were either underperforming or in markets the company decided it would no longer serve.

“In light of current economic conditions, our company has had to make some difficult decisions,” said Mike Zeiden, co-founder and chief financial officer.

Founded in 1979 as a small poster shop in Sherman Oaks, Z Gallerie specializes in items such as furniture, artwork, lighting, tabletop items, textiles and decorative accessories from around the world.

-- Andrea Chang

Ross stores recall folding patio chairs

Patio chairs that fold are handy. Patio chairs that collapse when you sit on them are not.

About 730 folding patio chairs were recalled today because the side supports can break when weight is put on them, Ross Stores Inc. and the Consumer Products Safety Commission said in a statement.

The splintering side supports of the eucalyptus wood patio chairs pose a falling hazard for users, the statement said.

The folding chairs were sold in Ross stores across the U.S. in February for about $50. The chairs were built in Vietnam and imported by the Pleasanton-based retailer, the statement said.

Ross Stores Inc. received one complaint from a customer who had shoulder pain after her chair collapsed, the statement said. Ross is offering a full refund to owners of the chairs.

For more information, go to www.rossstores.com.

-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Kmart and Sears announce new country-inspired home decor line

A new home furnishings line named after Country Living magazine will debut this summer in Kmart and Sears stores across the country.

Featuring home decor that the retailers say will redefine "country" and focuses on quality and comfort, the Country Living Collection will include furniture, tabletop, bedding and bath items. Items will range from $3.99 for candles to $349 for dining room furniture.

"The Country Living Collection at Kmart and Sears features a country-style sensibility that is new to our assortment," said Doug Wurl, a vice president at Sears Holdings Corp. "It strengthens our ability to offer customers beautifully coordinated products which make home decorating incredibly easy and affordable."

According to the Associated Press, the Country Living Collection will substitute for the Martha Stewart Everyday line, whose contract expires this year.

-- Andrea Chang

We had to ask: What's up with the Amish space heaters?

The Super Bowl makes us think about commercials, and this year, we are thinking about the one product we hoped to see promoted zanily during the big game, since we see them advertised everywhere else: Those "Heat Surge miracle heaters" with mantles handmade by the Amish.

Depending on how you consume your media (with a spoon!) you could have seen the oddly intriguing ads on TV, in the newspaper or in Rolling Stone magazine. Many of the spots picture what they say are "real Amish" -- complete with beards, suspenders and bonnets -- working on the mantles, though the Rolling Stone ad features two shirtless blond women in a bed together, warming themselves beside the miracle heater with a bottle of champagne on the special mantle. (Really. See above.)

The ads tout the miracle heaters (which supposedly give the peaceful flicker" of a real fire, without any flames or ashes) as well as the mantles surrounding the fireplaces -- made by "soft-spoken Amish craftsmen" who have imposed a limit of two per household. And even stranger, the ads tell consumers they can get two free heaters by calling at a certain time (Californians, we are in the "cold zone," which means we should start calling at 8:30 a.m. At least we don't live in Idaho, which is in the "frigid zone," which can start calling at 8 a.m.

The ad brags that "The Heat Surge miracle heater is a work of engineering genius from the China coast so advanced, you simply plug it into any standard outlet." (Cue the Amish: What's an outlet?) The mantles are "beautifully hand-rubbed, stained and varnish" and "actually roll[s] from room to room" (without a buggy, we assume).

You can buy the heater insert alone for $249. But, if you buy the $348 oak mantle, or $388 cherry mantle, the heater is "free"!

We hear the Amish are moving away from farming and into small business, but this ad seemed odd for many reasons: Don't Amish hate being photographed? Why can I only get two heaters? Who calls California a cold zone? So we checked in with Chris Pugh, multimedia communications specialist for Arthur Middleton Capital Holdings, who represents Heat Surge.

Here's the skinny: The heating units are made in China, while the real-wood mantles are made by the Amish from two separate Amish communities near Heat Surge headquarters in Canton, Ohio. The men dressed as Amish in commercials are real Amish and agreed to the photographs under the condition that the pictures "focus on the quality of the product." The blond women in the Rolling Stone ad? Not Amish.

As for the strange household limit and calling rules, "our production is limited, in part, because the mantles are handmade," he said. Further, the call times are staggered so that the company can "manage production schedules of the Amish craftsmen." Having people in different zones call 30 minutes apart allows the company to ensure fast delivery, Pugh said.

Oh, and despite a picture in the ads featuring Amish on a buggy in the snow with a heater in the back, Pugh says the heaters are delivered via UPS.

We aren't the only ones mystified by the ads: The Better Business Bureau said it has received 39 complaints about the company's advertising (in addition to 56 it received about customer service issues and 54 regarding service issues). The BBB was able to verify that the Amish in the ads are real but asked the company to change a few other parts of the ads, including a claim that the heater uses the same amount of energy as a coffee maker. The BBB gave the company an "F," though a note on its website says the BBB met with Heat Surge representatives on Sept. 11, 2008, and the company has taken some steps to address consumers' complaints.

Reviews of the fireplace online have been mixed, though the ads have inspired satires on YouTube (choice line: "order a dozen and we'll thrown in a puppy"), which is surely a sign of success. So should you buy a miracle heater to cuddle up near during those cold California nights? Heat Surge is owned by the same company that advertised free digital converter boxes in June, but as our reporter Jim Puzzanghera discovered, they weren't really free.

Maybe, if you're looking for something to cuddle up with on those cold California nights, you should just buy a puppy. Or find those girls in the ad and buy them some champagne.

-- Alana Semuels

Photo credit: HEAT SURGE/ROLLING STONE

Santa's Little Helper: Click here for your Christmas tree

Nothing says Christmas like the scent of a freshly cut Tannenbaum. But say you're a celebrity and, (unlike Ellen DeGeneres, center) you don't want the hassle of trying to avoid the paparazzi at the local tree lot.

Fear not, Tinseltown readers. That's what the Internet is for!

Yes, you can buy a fresh-cut Christmas tree at the touch of a button. We here at To Live and Buy in L.A. have surveyed some of the options to help expedite the delivery of holiday cheer to your doorstep.

Here's what we found. . .