U.S. product trends play well in Mexico
By Powell Slaughter -- Furniture Today, January 23, 2006
Mexico City — The trends toward contemporary goods and cleaner traditional styles seen at recent U.S. furniture shows are playing well with consumers south of the border.
Mexican consumers' preference for simpler looks spans all price points. Buyers at Guadalajara's Expo Mueble show, a key venue for the domestic market here, also have seen more contemporary, a switch from the traditional furniture that had dominated the show a few years ago.
Even Mexican manufacturers who had long specialized in traditional Spanish colonial or rustic goods have shifted to a simpler, more lifestyle-oriented look. A walk through Mexico City's Sante Fe Mall, Latin America's largest, shows that change.
Department store Palacio de Hierro, a key furniture shopping destination here, is displaying mostly clean contemporary goods and little traditional. Retailer Roche Bobois features almost exclusively contemporary goods in its prime, up-front display space.
Smaller storefronts showcasing furniture from manufacturers that had long offered ornate traditional goods, referred to in this market as "classico," also have shifted their presentation to more contemporary lines.
"Overall the Mexican market is going very modern," said Regina Hammeken Talavera, designer at Century Furniture & Design's store. "We're adding Vanguard to our lineup, and that will all be modern styles."
Located in Mexico City's upscale San Jeronimo neighborhood, the store and design center opened in 2000. It offers furniture from Century and accessories from a variety of sources, including Montaage and Palecek.
The 10,000-square-foot store is Century's exclusive Mexico City distributor.
Product displays are segmented according to styles ranging from traditional, although fairly clean in form, to contemporary.
"Consumers here also are very eclectic," Hammeken said. "We've just decorated an entire house mixing a variety of styles from classic to modern. A company like Century is able to offer that range."
That diversity of product from U.S. sources is a key to success here in appealing to a variety of consumer tastes.
"Contemporary is definitely the trend, but a good 30% to 35% of our customers still keep requesting traditional styles, and Bernhardt can offer both," said Guillermo Isunza, co-owner of the 8,200-square-foot Bernhardt Furniture store in the Dell Valle district.
Thomasville's newest Mexico City store in the Polanco district also places contemporary front and center. The store, near the city's central financial district, opened in 1999 to complement an 11-year-old location in San Jeronimo.
The Polanco store has a second floor that essentially floats, suspended from cables hanging from the ceiling.
Clean, contemporary looks dominate the store's showroom windows and most its first floor.
