Forecast: Heavier traffic
Eager buyers could push attendance past last April
By Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, April 7, 2002
HIGH POINT — With retail business improving and inventories remaining tight, High Point market organizers believe attendance at this month's event will easily surpass last October and could even exceed last April.
Organizers say they're encouraged by the number of pre-registrations and by the optimism among retailers and exhibitors. Those good feelings are fueled by a steadily improving retail climate that is keeping many factories, especially upholstery facilities, working overtime to keep up with demand.
"We're hearing very few comments about fear of flying or fear of coming here," said Charlotte Young, president of the High Point Convention and Visitors Bureau, which handles hotel reservations for thousands of marketgoers. "Most (retailers) are saying they need to come here because their inventories are getting low."
Although market organizers and showroom owners don't make official attendance figures public, most showroom officials said traffic was down at least 20% at the October 2001 market, which began about five weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Market organizers believe this month's attendance won't sink to those depressed levels, and depending upon last-minute registrations, could surpass last April's market, which most observers rated as a good one.
"Our pre-registration numbers have gone way ahead of April a year ago," said Bruce Miller, chief executive officer of the International Home Furnishings Center, the market's largest showroom building. "That would suggest that attendance will be above last April."
One wild card in the deck is attendance from buyers from outside North America, who stayed away in droves last October. Although Miller said pre-registration by international buyers "has been wonderful, even from buyers from the Middle East," he cautioned that the recent outbreak of violence in that region could cause some to stay home.
"But nobody really has any idea what impact it might have," he said. "We'll just have to wait and see."
Judy Mendenhall, president of the International Home Furnishings Market Authority, is also upbeat about the market's prospects, noting that many of the area's hotels already are sold out.
"The hotels are very busy. I think it will be a good market," she said last week after finishing a Market Authority-sponsored tour of the market for hotel doormen and other key employees.
She also noted that McLaurin Parking, the Raleigh, N.C., company that will run the market's shuttle system for the first time at the upcoming market, had no trouble finding enough workers to serve as shuttle bus drivers, parking lot attendants and the like. Those workers all underwent several hours of training last week "and they're very enthusiastic," Mendenhall said.
Young said the Triad Housing Bureau, the Convention and Visitors Bureau arm that handles hotel reservations, is enjoying brisk business. But as of last week, reservations were still behind the pace set in April 2001.
Young said 2,475 room reservations had been made as of last week, topping the 2,195 reservations made for last October's market. However, she said the Housing Bureau completed some 3,180 reservations for April 2001.
Area hotels and motels have made slightly more than 5,000 rooms available to the Housing Bureau for market. In total, there are about 17,000 rooms in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point and surrounding towns. Many marketgoers make their own reservations directly with hotels.
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