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You got it.
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Bradley Bingham Thomas, KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division - Director and Equity Research Analyst [26]
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And then just with respect to stores, how are you thinking about the store base next year? I know, Clarence, you said you didn't feel like you should go below 120. Will we start to see some more growth next year?
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Clarence H. Smith, Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. - Chairman, President & CEO [27]
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That's the plan. We are working on some locations, new leases and then filling markets. We haven't finalized those. And we do think there's some opportunities for growth where we can serve the customer quite well and where we're known in a number of these markets. So yes, we're looking at some locations, and we expect to grow this year -- or in '19.
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Bradley Bingham Thomas, KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division - Director and Equity Research Analyst [28]
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Great. And then a question on advertising. Every couple of years with the elections, sometimes that could be a bit distracting. I guess, any commentary about the effectiveness of advertising, cost of advertising that you've been seeing over the last month or so?
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Clarence H. Smith, Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. - Chairman, President & CEO [29]
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Yes. Well, yes, so right at the time we're talking. We have -- as we did with the national election, we backed off of some of our television around election time, which is right now. As you well know, it's pretty intense, and it does get more expensive, and you get bumped. We've moved some of that mix more to the digital arena, but we have had to -- or we took the strategy of backing off, let's say, for the next several weeks until after the election. So it does have an impact, and this particular midterm is more significant than usual. So we're recognizing that and backing off at the time.
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Bradley Bingham Thomas, KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division - Director and Equity Research Analyst [30]
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Got you. Great. And then just as we think about gross margin for next year, you all have done a really admirable job of improving gross margin in the last 3 years. Do you think that we can continue to expand gross margin next year? Or you think we're better off expecting it to be down somewhat with the tariffs?
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Clarence H. Smith, Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. - Chairman, President & CEO [31]
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Yes, we're not modeling that because of the tariffs. That's such a significant factor. We are having to take price increases and anticipating that. We're placing orders now, clearly, and have orders placed now for next year. And you have to assume the 25%. So no, I don't anticipate, and the model that Richard talked about shows, I think, 54.5%, which I would be happy if we can hold that if the tariffs hit. If the tariffs don't hit, we do have some pricing power.
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Bradley Bingham Thomas, KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division - Director and Equity Research Analyst [32]
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You're saying you'll be happy if you can stay at 54.5% next year with the tariffs?
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Clarence H. Smith, Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. - Chairman, President & CEO [33]
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Correct.
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Bradley Bingham Thomas, KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division - Director and Equity Research Analyst [34]
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Okay. And if we get to 25% tariff, is there -- can you quantify what you think the price increase would be to the consumer on average across the store?
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Richard B. Hare, Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. - Executive VP & CFO [35]
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Not yet. We're doing kind of a bottoms-up review right now with our merchandising group going through all of our products, each and every product that we get from China and the impact on our cost and on the pricing as well for our customers. So that's to be determined, but we're right in the middle of that process.
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Clarence H. Smith, Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. - Chairman, President & CEO [36]
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And the real unknown is the salability once you raise these prices. I mean, we don't know that. And we do know certain areas are very competitive and price increases will be tough. It's just too much unknown, but we will -- we have a process, as Richard said, of getting a lot more detail on that.
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Bradley Bingham Thomas, KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division - Director and Equity Research Analyst [37]
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Great. If I can squeeze one more in, just on the mattress category, I know a smaller business for you, closer to 10% of sales. But with this backdrop where mattress firm is closing some stores, is in bankruptcy, Tempur-Pedic obviously has some new products out, the stock of the -- the antidumping ruling against the Chinese coming here soon. I guess, I'd be curious if there's any color you could share about how that business is performing and your enthusiasm going forward.
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Clarence H. Smith, Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. - Chairman, President & CEO [38]
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Well, it's an important category. Yes, it's around 10%. We've had it before 11% or plus, and we want to get back. We are planning to be aggressive in the category. We are a major customer of both major vendors of Serta and of Tempur, and we intend to be. We're also developing our own product, which is made domestically, if this antidumping issue will impact a line that we bring out of China. But we think that it'll be an important opportunity for us to grow our share as we have fewer of those stores in the markets. And we want to grow it within our own stores. We're not planning on opening any of our own sleep stores, but we want to be aggressive, and I think you'll see more of that in the next several quarters.
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Operator [39]
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Our next question will come from Budd Bugatch with Raymond James.
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Beryl Bugatch, Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Research Division - MD and Director of Furnishings Research [40]
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Yes, Clarence, you did mention you will be placing orders in advance of, I guess, the incremental 15% tariff. So can you give us a -- quantify what you think inventory might look at, at the end of the year? Where do you think you -- how much are you willing to commit to prebuy?
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Clarence H. Smith, Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. - Chairman, President & CEO [41]
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Well, what we've already committed is already coming here or on the water, but...
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Richard B. Hare, Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. - Executive VP & CFO [42]
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Yes, I think we were at around $108 million. I don't think it's going to go higher than that. I think it's going to be right around that area. Most of it, as Clarence said, is in route, but I think you'll see next year -- it may come up a little bit, but then you'll see it go back down as we -- we're bringing in inventory now when we can get it when the tariff is lower. And in some cases, we've got it before the 10% tariff was in effect. So it might go up slightly more than where it's at now, but then it should come down Q1 of next year and so forth.
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Beryl Bugatch, Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Research Division - MD and Director of Furnishings Research [43]
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So you ended the quarter at $108.3 million, and you think it will be that or maybe a tad bit higher at the end of the year?
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Richard B. Hare, Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. - Executive VP & CFO [44]
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It could go slightly from there, but I don't think you're going to see a drastic increase.
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Beryl Bugatch, Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Research Division - MD and Director of Furnishings Research [45]
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Okay. So $110 million would be kind of the high watermark.
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Clarence H. Smith, Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. - Chairman, President & CEO [46]
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Yes, I mean, we built to this on purpose because we were worried about tariffs. So yes, as Richard said, we expect that to come down in later quarters -- later months.
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Beryl Bugatch, Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Research Division - MD and Director of Furnishings Research [47]
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And just lastly, the leather upholstery that's coming from China, is that at the promotional leather upholstery side or the better goods typically?
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Clarence H. Smith, Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. - Chairman, President & CEO [48]
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Well, all categories. I mean, our best leather comes -- I mean, we're doing it domestically, but it's still coming from China, much of it. So most of what we're referring to when we talk about leather from China is the motion leather category, which you know is major. And so that's what's hitting us the most.
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Operator [49]
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It looks like there are no questions at this time. (Operator Instructions) Okay, it looks like this concludes the Q&A session. I'll turn the conference back over to Richard Hare.
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Richard B. Hare, Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. - Executive VP & CFO [50]
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Thank you for your participation in today's call. We look forward to talking with you in the future when we release our fourth quarter results.
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Operator [51]
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Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining today's Haverty's Third Quarter Financial Results Call. The call has now concluded. Please disconnect your phones, and have a great day.