Going or coming? Musings from the merry-go-round
Joan Gunin, Leather Editor -- Furniture Today, April 16, 2006
It's been nearly eight years since I made the leap across the Mason-Dixon line from New York-based sister publication Home Textiles Today to Greensboro-based Furniture/Today.
At the time, I figured no big deal in making the switch from sheets and towels to tables and chairs. But the transition proved to be more challenging than a mere physical relocation.
Back in the 1990s, the textiles industry was still a tightly knit crowd. Working in Manhattan, you frequently would run into industry people.
In Greensboro/High Point, until quite recently, that wouldn't happen very often. Except for the Tupelo market, you usually had to wait until the next High Point market to see people from such far-flung places as Peoria or Paramus.
But all that has begun to change with the advent of the Las Vegas market. Now you see industry people all the time, but not necessarily during the off-season in High Point.
In the first five weeks of 2006, I saw plenty of people because by then I already had attended three markets, both in this country and abroad. I'm not complaining, except for the fact that the chatter has changed. It's not so much about the products any more as it is about the markets — their timeliness, frequency, location and viability.
The familiar cycle of High Point, Tupelo and the dearly departed San Francisco markets has been reconfigured with the addition of Las Vegas and, more recently, show date changes. And all of this is further intermingled with international stops in Paris, Milan, Cologne, Singapore, Shanghai and elsewhere.
I'm not saying that this market merry-go-round is a bad thing, only that it's a frequent thing.
I have long been accused of not knowing if I'm coming or going, but this newly emerging market cycle reminds me of a line from "The Godfather" (in a different context, of course!): "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."
Just when I think I am done prepping for, working on, covering, flying to, or finishing up a market, I check my calendar only to find it's on to ... wherever.
You get the picture, because we're all working off that same calendar.
If I sometimes find myself struggling to comprehend it all in such a short stretch of time, how can buyers and merchandising teams digest all of the new and semi-new wares they see?
In the old days (two years ago?), premarket gave manufacturers ample time to tweak. But now, with so much furniture made offshore, there's no window for change. And as those companies that supply domestic manufacturers begin to come directly to the United States, there goes the middleman.
With this, I say, au revoir, see you soon ... somewhere.
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Going or coming? Musings from the merry-go-round
Apr 18, 2006
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