Seeking Vegas bargains
Buyers want product to grab shoppers' attention
Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, July 24, 2006
LAS VEGAS -- With business mostly fair to bad — except for a few strong pockets — retailers attending the home furnishing market here have their eyes peeled for bargains, traffic items and other ways to grab consumers’ attention.
A few buyers from the East Coast are sitting out this market, along with some high-end retailers who say there’s not enough here yet at the top of the price spectrum to make the trip worth their while.Those here, however, say they are aggressively shopping all venues — including the Las Vegas Furniture Show at the Sands Expo, operated separately from the World Market Center complex and Las Vegas Convention Center space — for what’s new, what’s different and what’s on sale. “We’re looking to add some color to the lower price points in our upholstery mix (sofas retailing for $599 and less) and we’re looking for traffic items,” said Taylor Ganz, president of the 20-store, Los Angeles-based McMahan’s.Ganz and other buyers from the Top 100 company, with stores in California, Oregon and Reno, Nev., will spend three days shopping here. They’ve previously found the Las Vegas Convention Center particularly useful for good deals on traffic items, “much more than San Francisco ever was,” he said. At past Vegas markets, McMahan’s found everything from clocks to bamboo flowerpots to large Christmas nutcrackers and other holiday items, which Ganz described as “the kind of stuff we could only find (previously) in Tupelo.”Chris Pelcher, the new general merchandise manager for 12-store Levin Furniture of Smithton, Pa., is here with two other executives. “We’re looking for deals from our current vendors, and then any new suppliers we pick up,” he said.He characterized business as “not easy,” but Levin was encouraged by Fourth of July weekend sales. “We’re staying very aggressive with the advertising and … working with vendors, trying to get some deals for the summer doldrums,” Pelcher said.He noted the Top 100 company has “factory direct” spaces in nearly all of its stores, designed to handle “in-and-out” goods, “so we can take advantage of a lot of specials at the market here.”He’s shopping for deals from Levin’s existing vendors to promote through the summer, as well as “the next best thing in new goods” in all categories. The three-store Compass Furniture, based in the New Orleans suburb of Elmwood, appears to be an exception to the rule right now, with business booming as consumers replace furniture lost to last year’s Hurricane Katrina. Shopping for two
Compass President Billy Rippner is here with two other buyers, looking for new goods for their traditional-skewed 80,000-square-foot main store and the recently opened New Directions unit, with more casual contemporary looks.“Last time we went to Las Vegas, we found some manufacturers who, whether or not they showed in High Point, we never noticed before,” he said, adding Compass picked up goods from new suppliers Ara Collection, Greengrass and Eurocastle (all of which have shown recently in High Point).“That’s the beauty of Vegas,” Rippner said. “In four days, you can cover the market.” He likes the fact that showrooms are smaller here. “The manufacturers show me what’s new,” he said. “I don’t really need to see all the things I’ve passed over the past several markets.”Rippner said he is looking for ways to expand on the casual contemporary theme of New Directions, strengthening its offerings at the higher end of its price range with more $699 and $799 sofas, for example.
“We think Las Vegas will have more of the California manufacturers that have more of the contemporary look,” he said.Bruce Berman, CEO of the 16-store The Room Place at Harlem Furniture, said he wouldn’t think of skipping the Las Vegas market — or any other major furniture market, for that matter — noting he’s “in the business of looking to improve our product assortment 365 days a year.”As for what the Lombard, Ill.-based Top 100 company might be shopping for, Berman said only that he’s looking to replace anything that’s not performing well. He said he goes twice a year to Tupelo, High Point and now Las Vegas, adding he skipped Tupelo once and regretted it.Berman believes that some furniture retailers who’ve had to close their doors recently didn’t shop six markets a year, which might be one of their mistakes. “If your business is trying to make sure you have the best product available, isn’t that kind of a full-time job?” he asked.G. David Smythia, executive vice president of Birmingham, Ala.-based Mazer Discount Home Centers, also believes that “going to all shows is the best way to spot new product.”He’s here from Sunday through Thursday, shopping all major categories. Smythia said business has been flat for most of the year, although there’s been a welcome spike since Memorial Day.Not everyone sees it Smythia’s and Berman’s way.Alan Glass, owner of the high-end Treasures Furniture of Poway, Calif., has been to Vegas before but isn’t here this time because, he said, there’s not enough to see at the high end. ‘No time for Vegas’
Gene Stoltz, vice president of merchandising for Bellwood, Pa.-based Wolf Furniture, who shopped this market in January, said the Top 100 company makes the bulk of its lineup changes in the 30 days following the April High Point market, so there’s really “no time or space for Las Vegas.”Others are drawn here by convenience and needs. Jim Jernigan, owner of Factory Direct Furniture in Chattanooga, Tenn., closed his traditional store and opened the new format, which specializes in closeouts, including containers that were bound for other retailers who canceled orders.He said business has been booming, and he’s here shopping for closeout values.Aime Fitzhugh, vice president of merchandising for Gardner White in Warren, Mich., is here for two days, and will primarily focus on the LVCC.Salvador Llanos, purchasing director for FAMSA’s 22 U.S. stores, is in the minority of retailers seeing very healthy growth, thanks in part to its strength in the Hispanic community.“We’re looking for exclusive opportunities in upholstery and case goods,” said Llanos, who is based in Los Angeles, where FAMSA has 11 stores. That includes five-piece bedrooms with two nightstands to retail between $1,000 and $3,500, and loveseat-sofa packages in the same price range. Mike Kuhn, president of 11-store Roomful Express Furniture in Pittsburgh, is the sole representative of his company here, keeping tabs on what’s new and making sure his stores don’t miss out.“I’m not excited about another major market, to be quite honest,” he said. “I’d rather keep the major market in High Point, on the East Coast. But I’m going to make sure I don’t get second (shot) on something I should have had first rights of refusal on.”*Editor-in-Chief Ray Allegrezza contributed to this story.
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Seeking Vegas bargains
Aug 6, 2006
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