Study documents High Point's clout
Ray Allegrezza, Editor in Chief -- Furniture Today, July 9, 2007
We all know the old saying about home being where the heart is.
However, after reading the results of an economic impact study of the home furnishings industry on the Triad region of North Carolina, High Point University President Nido Qubein and others have concluded that the heart of the furniture market is firmly home in High Point.
In sharing the findings of what he called a landmark study, Nido revealed that the High Point furniture industry generates an annual impact of $8.25 billion on the Triad area and is responsible for more than 65,000 jobs in the region's four counties, Guilford, Davidson, Forsyth and Randolph.
High Point has long billed itself as the Furniture Capital of the World, and for Nido, the results of the study were so dramatic that it prompted him to say that, "This study proves that."
When I asked Brian Casey, president and CEO of the High Point Market Authority, for his take, he said, "We all knew that impact the furniture industry has on the Triad, but until now, we just didn't know how substantial that impact was."
Tom Mitchell, senior vice president of Merchandise Mart Properties' High Point operations, was equally pumped by the report. The study, he told me, "has to be incredibly important to any supplier or manufacturer thinking of relocating here. It has equal value for every retailer who is in the process of evaluating which markets to attend."
Both Casey and Mitchell also see this report as a key that will unlock the door to additional financial support from the state.
Just as important, they said, is that the report is a statistical silencer to many who wonder if High Point is a city whose time has come ... and gone.
"Make no mistake: High Point still has legs ... very good legs," said Casey.
