Assessing a very different Showtime
By Carole Sloan -- Furniture Today, January 13, 2002
Well, it certainly was different ? the just-concluded Showtime fabric show, I mean.
It was very different from its predecessors in terms of exhibitors and their wares, visitors and their needs, and the overall mood of the market.
Let's take the latter pieces first.
By Monday afternoon — actually the third day of the show although it doesn't open officially until Monday — virtually all exhibitors were talking about how customers were looking for "new." They had come to Showtime to seek out newness, excitement, innovation, as well as value. The latter is a given in this day and age, so much so that it (almost) doesn't need to be mentioned at any price point.
What buyers definitely were not looking to do was replace one basic beige chenille with this year's version.
Now let's take a look at the exhibitor base. The Suites at Market Square has brought in some fresh blood, especially in the trimmings and embellishments categories. Any furniture designer or home textiles supplier who didn't look these companies over really well missed some great opportunities to give their spring products some special differentiation.
Also at Showtime were a number of small offshore fabric suppliers, both repeat and new, both European and Third World, and many exhibited a remarkable sense of taste, color and trend.
As for the customers, virtually everyone agreed that attendance was down. Not a lot but still down, especially from California, where some apparently decided the forecast of snow, sleet and freezing rain for High Point was reason enough to stay away. (It turned out to be cold rain.)
The more interesting observation is that the REALLY BIG furniture guys are fewer and fewer at Showtime. Among the furniture guys were more upper-middle to better specialty companies. There also were lots of furniture retailers, as well as a growing contingent of fabric retailers and home textiles suppliers.
The changes, subtle as they were, made this Showtime very interesting indeed.
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