Good turnout expected at Quebec market
By Michael J. Knell -- Furniture Today, September 10, 2001
QUEBEC CITY — A good turnout is expected for this weekend's Salon du Meuble de Québec, set to open for a three-day run here Sept. 15.
"I think it's going to be a very good show," said Christian Chouinard, president of Crinar, a glider rocker producer in St-Romuald, Quebec. "It has the same feeling as Calgary — there's not a lot of pressure on the retailers, it's very casual, it's something the buyers like coming to."
This is the only furniture market in French Canada, making it the venue of choice for many independent retailers from throughout the province who don't travel to Toronto or High Point.
About 124 companies are expected to exhibit, including Quebec-based resources and a healthy representation of manufacturers from outside the province. Exhibitors will include Dutailier, El Ran, South Shore Inds., Jaymar, Sealy Canada, Serta Canada and Sklar Peppler.
"We were there for the first time last year and we were pleasantly surprised," said David Cox, a senior sales representative for Buhler Furniture, the Winnipeg, Manitoba-based producer of curios, entertainment centers and wall systems. "Lots of local people come to the show, retailers who don't come to Toronto or any other market."
"One of the reasons we're going to Quebec City is the lack of attendance from the East at the June Toronto show," said Eric Abecassis, vice president of motion and stationary upholstery major El Ran of Pointe-Claire, Quebec.
"From the feedback we've had from our reps and retailers, this will be a well-attended event," Abecassis said.
"I'm not going in with high expectations, but it's going to be an excellent opportunity to make contact with our Quebec dealers," said Agostino Cipolla, sales director for Karya Furniture of Blainville, Quebec, a contemporary case goods specialist. "It's a good time to showcase some of the product I will debut in High Point to Quebec dealers, most of whom don't go to that show."
Much of what exhibitors will show here was launched either in High Point in April or at Toronto in June.
Business in Quebec, like the rest of Canada, typically is described as OK so far in 2001, with the pace of growth slowing considerably from the record years of 2000 and 1999. Most factory executives expect to see some decent growth as early as the fourth quarter, or at least in the early part of next year.
"While business has been soft in some places, generally it's been pretty good," Crinar's Chouinard said.
"Business has been very stable throughout Quebec," El Ran's Abecassis said. "We want to be able to get in on what should be a pretty good fall."
"Everyone's been telling us that business is OK," Cipolla said. "When it's OK after a couple of pretty great years, that isn't so bad."
"Quebec is still a new market for us," Buhler's Cox said. "But our product is being very well received. Over the past year we've seen a lot of growth and we're expecting that to continue."
The privately owned and operated Quebec City market targets independent retailers from Quebec and French-speaking New Brunswick.
