Ongoing Vegas retailer support linked to quality of exhibitors
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, April 14, 2002
LAS VEGAS — A sampling of retailers who participated in a Las Vegas World Market Center survey told Furniture/Today they plan to attend the proposed furniture market here.
Some are enthusiastic and others are more guarded.
Most said they would attend the first market planned for 2004, but added that their ongoing support will depend on whether the World Market Center secures key suppliers.
"Being a leader in the industry as far as being on the cutting edge and looking for new product, we will certainly attend initially to see what it's all about," said Fred Berk, president of Fort Myers, Fla.-based Robb & Stucky.
But he said the success of Las Vegas will be dictated by the quality of manufacturers showing there as well as the caliber of the stores attending.
World Market Center developers say they have strong vendor support for the first 1.25 million-square-foot World Market Towers building, in commitments and leases. They have released the names of only 20 signed tenants, saying they will release names only after they have permission.
Exhibitor names released by the market include Sandberg Furniture, Fairmont Designs, AICO, GuildCraft of California, Orman Grubb and Vaughan Furniture.
Three other suppliers — The Bombay Company's Bailey Street Trading Co., Boyd Furniture and Tempur-Pedic — have said they have signed leases, and Magnussen Presidential has said it is committed to space.
"Yes, I'm definitely planning on going," said Bruce Berman, chief executive officer of Harlem Furniture, with 13 stores in metro Chicago.
Berman has talked to his company's largest sources that now show only in San Francisco, and they've told him they're going to Las Vegas, he said.
Berman said there is a growing trend for manufacturers to pre-sell new goods to major accounts and build a track record before bringing goods to a big furniture market. Las Vegas, with its access and amenities, is a good candidate to take advantage of this pre-sell movement, he said.
"High Point is not the right place for that because it's not a major hub for any major airlines," he added.
Raymour & Flanigan's Neil Goldberg was more guarded in his support. "We feel it is important to attend all viable markets and opportunities that represent themselves to the furniture industry," said the president and CEO of the 45-store, Liverpool, N.Y.-based chain.
Jeff Child, president of Salt Lake City-based R.C.Willey Home Furnishings, said Las Vegas makes sense for his company partly because it has one store — soon to be two — in the city.
"If they have the right manufacturers, we will shop there," Child said. Who are the right manufacturers? West Coast suppliers, he said, "and it would be nice if they can bring in some more of the East Coast companies than what San Francisco is doing right now."
Bill Hinks, president and CEO of South Dakota Furniture Mart, also likes the idea of Las Vegas because it's close to the retailer's base of operations, with easy flights in from both Sioux Falls, S.D., and Minneapolis. But Hinks said he doesn't believe Las Vegas would seriously affect his participation in other markets, especially High Point, despite the trouble he has finding lodging and renting a car there.
"We just believe (Las Vegas) would be a good, wide-open market," he said. "They have the housing, the car rentals. So many things go on there that make it so convenient."
Walt Smithe, president of Walter E. Smithe Furniture of Itasca, Ill., also expressed frustration with High Point. "My thought is, if we could wave a magic wand and move the whole kit and caboodle (to Las Vegas), that would be wonderful," he said.
But Smithe, who doesn't attend Tupelo or San Francisco, said this would be tough to do: "Making it a viable alternative to High Point is a long way away."
World Market Center developers haven't said their market is meant to be an alternative to High Point, although they do say that over time it would surpass any U.S. market in terms of international draw, as well as challenge San Francisco for the dominant West Coast market title.
Rooms To Go President Jeff Seaman said his company is "definitely going to go and see what it's all about." Las Vegas, he said, is a fun place to visit and a nice place to have a market.
"I think everyone wants to give Las Vegas a chance," he added. "I'm not saying in place of High Point, but in addition to it."
Rooms To Go shops Tupelo and San Francisco, among other markets, and "so far, we always get a little done in all these regional markets," Seaman said.
"Rooms To Go is giving it a shot," he quipped, "and we're going to put it all on black."
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