Buyers prepare for Vegas
Some search for fresh looks, others service
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, January 29, 2006
Las Vegas — Retailers are coming to the second home furnishings market here with a mixed take on business conditions and shopping strategies that range from just browsing to across-the-board open to buy.
Some stores, impressed with the inaugural market's product lineup in July, will be on the hunt for fresh looks across the board, with an emphasis on case goods, home accents, bedding and occasional furniture.
For some, service will be a bigger issue than ever as retailers look for suppliers who can keep their delivery promises — particularly at peak demand times.
World Market Center officials say they've improved the market to address dealer concerns and work out the few kinks from the first market. Some dealers say they're eager to see these changes.
But some also were concerned that Las Vegas will still have relatively small showroom spaces, limiting the amount of product displayed.
Mary Li, co-owner of the four-store R.S. Basso in Sebas-topol, Calif., is looking forward to the market's sophomore season.
"I can't wait to see the new stuff," Li said. She said Las Vegas is "really weakening the monopoly that High Point has wielded over the industry for so long."
Li said business has been challenging lately, mainly because of factors such as freight costs, foam price increases and the weather. But she still will have her eyes open here for what is new and unusual, particularly in accent pieces and cases such as hand-carved armoires that Basso can retail for under $2,000.
"The Boomers are pretty much full of furniture at this point, and they're looking for that great accent piece to whet their appetite," she said, such as well-designed entertainment consoles for their new flat-screen televisions.
Las Vegas was also a good upholstery market for Basso in July, when it found two great lines from the West Coast, and Li will shop that category again.
Jake Jabs, president of the 10-store American Furniture Warehouse in Englewood, Colo., had a different take on upholstery. He said that because the showrooms at the July market were expensive, they were too small to draw a big upholstery presence — only 10 of his sources in the category showed there, compared with 17 in Tupelo and 30 or so in High Point.
Still, Jabs is bringing six buyers to Las Vegas for three full days. He will be focusing largely on occasional pieces, such as bombe chests, writing desks, plant stands and storage cabinets — auxiliary pieces that Jabs said have been a big hit for American since it really started promoting the category.
In July, he sniffed out several Chinese factories in Las Vegas that were offering these items at low prices, and he's hoping to find more.
"It looks like the Vegas market is going to be a big, big market," Jabs added. "I'm not a Las Vegas person, and I was hoping the market wouldn't work because I don't need another market to go to. I was wrong. The little dealers love Las Vegas. There was a lot of traffic (in July), so I think Vegas is here to stay."
Taylor Ganz, vice president of the 20-store, Los Angeles-based McMahan's, said his buying team will look for step-up bedroom groups at the higher end of the price spectrum for the promotional to midpriced stores, as well as new accessories sources.
"During the July market, we were surprised to find some excellent sources for wooden vases, screens and grandfather clocks, and hope to find additional new sources for more home accents," Ganz said.
Like others, he expressed hope that his key sources here will have more square footage this time to show more goods.
Indeed, that was one of the disappointments in the July market for Marty Cramer, co-owner of the five-store Cramer's Home Furnishings in Ellensburg, Wash. He said many vendors he saw in July couldn't show him their top sellers because they only had room for new product.
"I don't want to be (their) guinea pig," he said.
Cramer said he's not sure whether Las Vegas will boom to become a national and international giant, or evolve into mostly a regional market.
"If manufacturers can't get enough space to show everything" — and until the WMC secures some of his key vendors who have yet to sign on, such as Hooker and La-Z-Boy — he said he'll be making the trek to High Point.
Still, he said he's excited about coming back and wants Las Vegas to succeed and "turn into everything it hopes. We're giving it plenty of time to do that."
He has an extensive needs list, including five- to seven-piece dining rooms he can retail from $1,500 to $2,000, bedrooms from $2,000 to $3,000, and fresh upholstery looks in leather and microfiber.
But, more importantly, Cramer will be here looking for suppliers who can deliver. So far, he said he's found the critical combination of good product and good service in Ashley and Emerald Home Furnishings, and is looking for more sources that can fill the bill.
A few large retailers from the East Coast — including Badcock Home Furniture & more and Hendricks Furniture Group — also will shop the market.
Don Marks, CEO of Mulberry, Fla.-based Badcock, said he's coming primarily because Best Home Furnishings CEO Clem Lange was the winning bidder at a City of Hope charity auction on dinner with Marks in the U.S. city of Lange's choice. He chose Las Vegas.
Marks and two Badcock colleagues will be at the market just to "scope it out."
"I think Vegas is going to mature into a real force in the industry," he said. "But right now I think the amount of square footage is inadequate to cover all the things we want to see. We'll look at some of the vendors who don't show in High Point to see if there's something that makes sense."
Rick Grant, president of the 32-store Hendricks Furniture Group of Hickory, N.C., is making his first trip with five other buyers and executives, but it's strictly "exploratory," he said.
"We have not put together an agenda, but we plan to spend four days there and will try to go through everybody who is out there," he said.
Bob Berman, president of the 10-store Furniture Express and Bob's Gaming in Romulus, Mich., said his company will focus on its bedding business here, after making the recent switch to Sealy from Spring Air. And to jump-start sales in a very tough Detroit business climate, he will be looking for ways to more heavily accessorize his stores.
"We're finding most consumers are buying pieces instead of groups," he said. "Accessories will create the excitement and get them in the buying mood."
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Buyers prepare for Vegas
Jan 30, 2006
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