Nationwide's PrimeTime Show draws record attendance of 3,400

Ray Allegrezza -- Furniture Today, March 7, 2012

ORLANDO, Fla. — The PrimeTime Show hosted by Nationwide Marketing Group at the Gaylord Palms Resort here last week proved to be a prime venue for the close to 40 furniture and bedding companies that exhibited here.

Don Smith, left, and Karl Eulberg of Bush Furniture show Nationwide members new merchandising tools along with new furniture.

The twice a year show attracted a record crowd of 3,400 members of the buying group, who saw a broad selection of furniture from sources including Ashley, Bush, Catnapper/Jackson, Classic Flame/Twin-Star, Coaster, Klaussner, Legends, Leggett & Platt, Mac Motion, Protect-A-Bed, United Furniture/Simmons Upholstery and more.

The show also attracted key bedding sources such as Boyd Specialty Sleep, Naturepedic, Sealy, Serta, Simmons, Tempur-Pedic and others.

Exhibitors interviewed by Furniture/Today gave Nationwide high marks for putting together what they said was an exciting event that offered education, networking, entertainment and, of course, ample selling opportunities.

Since Nationwide's members also buy appliances and electronics, many of the exhibitors, including Rick Schmidgall, president of Legends Furniture, praised the show for opening furniture sources up to new types of dealers.

"We don't often see consumer electronics retailers at the furniture shows we exhibit at, which makes this show a plus, especially since so much of our furniture supports home electronics," he said.

Bones O'Briant, regional vice president of sales at Klaussner Home Furnishings, agreed. "We've attended this event for about five years and we meet new customers each time we show," he said.

O'Briant said many appliance and consumer electronics stores are seeking to fatten margins by adding furniture, a strategy that has helped Klaussner expand its presence with these dealers.

"The fact that we have dozens of styles that ship with 48 hours is right up the alley with many of these types of retailers," he said.

In addition to writing orders on its furniture lineup, the company was also doing a brisk business during the show with its Enso bedding lineup.

During the show, Furniture/Today interviewed exhibitor and retailers attending the Prime Time show. To watch those interviews, go to http://www.furnituretoday.com/video/.

Nationwide's next PrimeTime is scheduled for Aug. 19-22 at the Gaylord National in National Harbor, Md., just outside Washington, D.C.

For more coverage of the PrimeTime show, see the March 12 print issue of Furniture/Today.