Vegas says it drew 62K
Number rivals High Point attendance
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, August 22, 2005
Las Vegas — The World Market Center said it drew 62,000 registered visitors to its inaugural market, a successful showing by any standard and a mark not too far off a typical High Point market despite the two shows' vast difference in physical size.
High Point usually draws about 70,000 visitors, according to the International Home Furnishings Market Authority. The reported number has inched down from a peak of 80,000 several years ago.
It's difficult for a market as spread out as High Point to look busy. But at the much smaller Las Vegas market (2.8 million square feet in four venues vs. High Point's 12 million square feet), halls were crowded and exhibitor after exhibitor reported heavy traffic.
WMC exhibitors also saw sales levels unmatched at other markets, contended Shawn Samson, co-managing partner of the showroom complex.
"We attribute this to a new level of energy created by virtue of both the state-of-the-art facility we have built as well as the infrastructure Las Vegas has to offer," he said.
Just how many buyers were in Las Vegas, however, is unclear. The WMC has declined to break out buyers from total attendance, which includes exhibitors and sales representatives. Samson would only say the "overwhelming majority" were buyers.
He said the 62,000 figure didn't include registration at the Assn. of Woodworking & Furnishings Suppliers Fair in the Las Vegas Convention Center, which overlapped with the furniture market (see story below).
High Point, which has no central registration, also doesn't break out buyer attendance, although Bruce Miller, CEO of the International Home Furnishings Center, took a stab at the number earlier this year and estimated that roughly 50,000 of the 70,000 attendees are buyers.
Given the greater number of exhibitors and thus the greater number of sales representatives in High Point than in Las Vegas, could it be that Las Vegas actually attracted more buyers its first time out?
Judy Mendenhall, president of High Point's Market Authority, said last week she doubts it, although she added she had no way of knowing the true number of buyers in Las Vegas and doesn't want to imply it wasn't a decent show.
"The feedback I got was there were a lot of people just looking to see what was going on," and that the registration included families and observers, "but I don't know that for a fact," she said.
WMC's Samson said the excitement at the Las Vegas show prompted a number of key exhibitors to say they'd like the WMC to speed up the construction of future buildings — something market officials already said they were doing at an opening-day press conference.
When the Vegas project is completed, it's expected to include eight buildings totaling more than 12 million square feet. (The first 1.3 million-square-foot building is the smallest.) The plan was to build out the project over 10 years, but now developers say they plan to finish in seven years. Groundwork has begun for the second 1.6 million-square-foot building, and it is expected to open in early 2007.
Jack Kashani, another managing partner, noted the third building has been boosted to 2 million square feet from the previous 1.6 million. It's expected to open in early 2008, but Samson said the developers are "looking for ways to see how we can accelerate that."
