WMC reports attendance dip, strong activity
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, March 13, 2006
Las Vegas — The World Market Center said it drew more than 50,000 buyers, designers and exhibitors to its winter show from some 83 countries.
That's off from the 62,000 it said attended the inaugural market last July, but market officials said exhibitors didn't complain because they reported writing more business and opening many new accounts.
WMC said it saw an increase in the number of Top 100 and top 200 buyers attending the market over July, noting that 65% of the top 200 U.S. retailers were here. The show also saw nearly twice as many Canadian and overseas buyers, organizers said.
"In all, more than 10,000 new buyers registered for January's Las Vegas Market and this translated into new accounts and incremental business for the 1,200 exhibitors that showed at market," the WMC said.
The separately organized Las Vegas Furniture Show held at the Rio has reported big gains in traffic, with show manager Stephan Phelps estimating buyer attendance of about 10,000, up some 30% from the summer show at the Sands.
In a press release, WMC Co-managing Partners Jack Kashani and Shawn Samson said the January show surpassed their expectations.
"Evidenced by the quality of the market experience, unprecedented sales activity and the rapid expansion of the entire campus, World Market Center has reached a critical mass of attendance and commerce that has definitely proven to be sustainable in the long term," they said.
WMC said improvements are in the works for the summer market — set for July 24–28 at WMC and its Pavilions temporary tents, and July 25–28 at the Las Vegas Convention Center venue — starting with a revamped plan for onsite registration.
Long waits to register on opening day in January was the one notable complaint about the winter show.
