High Point shopping lists
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, April 19, 2004
HIGH POINT — HIGH POINT — Antidumping concerns may be on a lot of retailers' minds this market, but they're not playing into everyone's shopping list.
Here's what a sampling of retailers say they'll be looking for in High Point:
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Gene Stoltz, Wolf Furniture, Bellwood, Pa. — April market is usually where Stoltz looks for special buys and closeouts — across Wolf's price spectrum and especially in the upholstery category — "to help hype up the summer months," he said. Wolf also is after fringe items for its new Hagerstown, Md., store opening next month, as well as wild contemporary pieces for all stores — standout pieces with chrome and curves, for instance. Wolf may not do much volume with them, but Stoltz said they sure spice up and differentiate the stores.
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Jake Jabs, American Furniture Warehouse,Englewood, Colo.— "High Point is a market where you look for everything," Jabs said. He'll bring seven buyers with him and they'll work the market six full days. Imports will get attention and so will home accents and the ready-to-assemble suppliers, who typically are well represented here.
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Bob Masin, Masins, Seattle — Masins usually buys a lot of goods from Italy but the rising euro is hurting the value of the Italian furniture. "We'll see if we can find … similar product made here," he said.
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Jeff Child, R.C. Willey Home Furnishings, Salt Lake City — Child gives the case goods preview he saw during premarket a "B-minus" at best, but he's excited about what he saw in upholstery. Alan White in particular looked "very good as usual." R.C. Willey customers are trending a little more to contemporary tastes, and Child and his buyers will look to do the same, in sofas, for example, from $399 to $1,500.
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Keith Koenig, City Furniture, Tamarac, Fla. — City wants to upgrade its contemporary offering with more sophisticated, urban styles at stepup prices. Koenig said this reflects a changing real estate scene — more high-rise condominiums going up near downtowns and other working areas. He will shop the category across the board, and noted it's a look that doesn't really lend itself to Chinese production. "It might come from Italy," he said. "I just hope we don't have an antidumping petition against Italy."
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Taylor Ganz, McMahan's, Los Angeles — Ganz is here shopping the motion and leather upholstery categories as well as casual dining. "We've been transitioning away from the farmhouse look for the last 12 to 18 months because we think that look has probably run its course," he said. McMahan's aims to shop for various other styles in five-piece dining to retail from $299 to $799, plus a few in the $1,000 range and promotional sets it can run for $99 or less.
