Restoration Hardware dropped a bomb on last week's earnings call that led to a 25% drop in share price. Were the results bad? Yes. Was the guidance poor? Yes. But even more alarming were some of the statements in the press release:

We understand that many of the strategies we are pursuing - opening the largest specialty retail experiences in our industry while most are shrinking the size of their retail footprint and closing stores; expanding our Source Book mailings while many are eliminating catalogs; moving from a promotional to a membership model, while others are increasing promotions, positioning their brands around price versus product; and refusing to follow the herd in self-promotion on social media platforms, instead allowing our brand to be defined by the taste, style, design and quality of the products and experiences we are creating - are all in direct conflict with conventional wisdom and the strategies being pursued by many in our industry.

We believe when you step back and consider we are - one, building a brand with no peer; two, creating a customer experience that cannot be replicated online; and three, have total control of our content from concept to customer - you realize what we are building is extremely rare in contrast to today's retail landscape. Yet, our most valuable asset is not what we've done, but rather who we've become. We've become a team of people who don't know what can't be done. A team that is driven by our values and beliefs. A team that is willing to march into hell, as we did last year, for a heavenly cause. A team that has a bold vision for the future, and an organization that is demonstrating it can bring that vision to life.

Carpe Diem,

Gary

Gary Friedman
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer