Martha Stewart to appear in Boston-area furniture ads

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Sep 12, 2003 by Associated Press

BOSTON -- Far from shunning Martha Stewart for her legal troubles, a pair of Boston-area furniture salesman known for their distinctive ads are featuring the queen of home decorating in new commercials.

Barry and Eliot Tatelman, who run the Boston-area chain Jordan's Furniture, brought in Stewart to boost her new line of furniture.

"Eliot and I aren't saying innocent or guilty," said Barry Tatelman, CEO of Jordan's, which the brothers sold to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway in 1999 but still operate.

"What we're saying is she's really good at what she does, and we love the furniture," Tatelman told The Boston Globe.

In one of their typically self-deprecating ads, the pair are creating potpourri sachets for a bedroom dresser and a centerpiece for a table. They walk over to get approval from Stewart, who remarks "Not enough hydrangeas -- never enough hydrangeas."

Jordan's doesn't release sales figures, but G. Alex Bernhardt, chairman and CEO of Bernhardt Furniture Co., which is developing the furniture in partnership with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., said the national launch has been the most successful in 38 years in business. The line is sold in more than 250 stores nationwide.

Stewart has pleaded innocent to charges of obstruction of justice, conspiracy, securities fraud and making false statements to investigators in connection with her sale of ImClone Systems Inc. shares a day before a government report sent the stock price tumbling. Her trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 12.