re: Has furniture gone up much?

My grandfather started a furniture store in south Arkansas after the end of WW2, my parents took over it from him, and I was going to take over it from them until I decided I didn't want to sell furniture the rest of my life.

The markup in furniture is high. Things have probably changed in the 30 years since I've been out of the business but back in the 80's and 90's the markup typically looked like the following.

(Wholesale Price + Freight Cost) * 3.5 = MSRP
(Wholesale Price + Freight Cost) * 2 = Everyday Price
((Wholesale Price + Freight Cost) * 2) * .9 (or whatever) = Sale Price

Most furniture stores use a cost code on their price tags. The cost code allows the salesperson to see the cost of the item without revealing it to the buyer. Our cost code was based on wethankyoz where the w=1, e=2, t=3, etc... So an item that we paid $375 for would have a cost code of TKA. We would have marked it as MSRP of $1323 with our everyday price being $750. Pay cash, you would get 10% off the $750. If we had a labor day sale and advertised everything 25% off, it would be 25% off the $750 or $562.50. Our gross profit from the sale price would be $187.50 which amounts to 50% gross profit.