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Busy Premarket draws buyers

Heath E Combs -- Furniture Today, November 3, 2010

This twin sleigh bed shown at Premarket is part of Kincaid’s new 100-piece Homecoming collection. Made with pine solids, it has farmhouse design influences. The line also includes pieces in maple and walnut solids.HIGH POINT - Good Labor Day sales and a buying group meeting fed into a busy High Point Premarket here last week, exhibitors and market officials said.
     Exhibitors also reported writing orders at the two-day preview event, which takes place about a month before each High Point Market. The fall market opens Oct. 16.
     Premarket was reincarnated about four years ago when a group of exhibitors and showroom building owners started sponsoring the event. "My impression, just based on both retailers and manufacturers I've spoke with, was this is the best Premarket we've had to date," said Brian Casey, president of the High Point Market Authority.
Hooker Furniture showed this Le Papillon Chest, part of its new Melange II collection. It has a burlap textured exterior with overlapping script and a butterfly motif.     Buying group Furniture First held its annual symposium on the eve of market in the High Point area, and many of the 122 retailers attending that meeting also came to Premarket, officials said.
     Casey said 220 buyers from 93 companies registered for Premarket, not including the Furniture First group.
Kevin O'Connor, president and CEO of Samson Marketing Group, the parent of furniture brands Legacy Classic and Universal, estimated that Premarket drew about 175 retail accounts, at least a third of which were from Furniture First. O'Connor also heads the group of companies sponsoring Premarket.
     "It was nothing short of a phenomenal success," he said. "This thing has really grown."
Hooker Chairman, President and CEO Paul Toms said the event was well attended and that many retailers reported having a good Labor Day.
     Ed Grund, CEO of case goods importer A.R.T. Furniture, said that his company nearly doubled the amount of traffic it had received at Premarket in March.
Dorian Stacy Sims, left, and Ashley Martin, both of Stacy Furniture, Grapevine, Texas; and Dennis Novosel and Cassandra Krebel, both of Stoney Creek Furniture, Stoney Creek, Ontario, get together during Premarket.     "We got commitments and we wrote some container orders on existing product. For existing accounts it provides a platform to show our new product and also to show them new product they hadn't seen in Las Vegas," Grund said. "It really is an opportunity to get in front of retailers and coinciding with the Furniture First event it was a one plus one equals three."
     Keith Covey, a spokesman for NE Kids, a non-sponsoring exhibitor, said the event offered a good opportunity to build relationships with retailers.
     "The buying conversation starts in a more relaxed atmosphere," Covey said. "Here if they want to sit down and spend a half hour, they sit down and spend a half hour."
At a Premarket social event are Liana Wroble, left, Marlo Furniture, Rockville, Md.; Carol Schultz and Shawna McCommons, John V. Schultz Furniture, Erie, Pa.     Jeff Cook, president of Broyhill Furniture, praised O'Connor for his role in helping to see the event remains a success. He added that Premarket is good because it forces Broyhill and other companies to be market ready.
     "It is a great opportunity to present new product and if there are things to be added or tweaked, you have an opportunity to do that in a very short time frame," he said. "If you are treating this like a rehearsal, it's a mistake. It's showtime."
     Some companies, including Bernhardt, Stanley and Fine Furniture Design, said they already were writing some business at the event.
    "When a rep has a price list and a catalog, yes, we expect to write orders," said Glenn Prillaman, president and CEO of Stanley Furniture. Stanley showed samples of its new Coastal Living Resort collection, which is already in production and is expected to hit retail floors in February.

Jane Wear, left, and Tim Harris, Knoxville Wholesale, Knoxville, Tenn.; Woody Whichard and Johnna Whichard, Midtown Furniture Superstore, Madison, N.C.; and Harold Hart, Hart Furniture, Siler City, N.C.

Mike Nicotera, left, Carls Furniture, Coconut Creek, Fla.; Jeff Cook, Broyhill; Bill Bacon, Bacon’s Furniture, Port Charlotte, Fla.

Peter Robinson, left, Robinson and Robinson; Bruce Sprintz, Sprintz Furniture, Nashville, Tenn.; Clarence Smith, Havertys, Atlanta; Bill Pirtle and Buzz White, both of LeatherTrend.     Fine Furniture Design, which was showing at Premarket for the first time as an event sponsor, said it expects to begin production of its introductions in December, which will allow it to also hit retail floors in February, at least a month sooner than if the product was first seen in October.
     "You get it here a month earlier, you cut it a month earlier and you ship it a month earlier," said Jim Adams, vice president of design and marketing.
     Jena Hall, executive vice president of merchandising and design at Phoenix-based case goods source Aspenhome, many retailers here saw the company's Reede's Landing whole home collection for the first time. It had debuted in August at the Las Vegas Market.
     "It reconfirms how important the High Point Market is for a West Coast company," she said.
     Dean Banks, vice president of sales and marketing for A-America, added, "The attendance was up from the last Premarket. Anytime you can get in front of customers, it's a plus."

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