Vegas attendance better than expected
Order-writing surprisingly strong
Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, August 4, 2008
LAS VEGAS — Fears of a lackluster market vanished in the desert wind as buyers and sellers crowded into the newly expanded World Market Center last week for the seventh Las Vegas Market.
Most exhibitors said attendance was better than expected, and that given the sales slump that has plagued home furnishings for more than a year, order-writing was surprisingly strong.
Assessments of showroom traffic ranged from slightly below to slightly ahead of the January market here, but few exhibitors seemed unhappy with that result.
“We were pleasantly surprised with attendance,” said Don Essenberg, executive vice president at Magnussen Home, who has been a WMC Building A exhibitor since the inaugural market. “And our written business was way up over last market.”
Ashley Chairman Ron Wanek agreed, saying that attendance at his company’s Building B showroom was about even with last July.
“There were fewer East Coast dealers, (but) this market was better than we expected,” said Wanek. “People came to this market with a good attitude, and we like that.”
Powell President Bill Benton admitted he was a bit nervous before market, but was breathing the proverbial sigh of relief by the end of the week. He said traffic at his Building A showroom was slightly ahead of the January show.
“Our business is strong, and our youth program is on fire,” he said, referring to a gallery program that was unveiled at market.
Market organizers, meanwhile, said they were elated with attendance and with the impact they said the new Building C will have on the market and the industry.
“This project is the manifest destiny of the home furnishings industry,” said Shawn Samson, co-managing partner of the World Market Center.
Building C, a 16-story structure with 2.1 million square feet of exhibit space, boosted the WMC’s size to 5 million square feet.
“There are a lot of people who came here to change their business … and I think we’ve given them the tools to do that,” added Bob Maricich president and CEO of the complex. “What blew me away is to look out on this campus and realize that is has been just three years since the first market was held here.”
Attendance figures for the market weren’t available late last week, but Maricich said opening day attendance was the best first day in the history of the market.
Major exhibitors in Building C appeared to be very pleased with traffic and order-writing in their new showrooms.
“This was our best Vegas market to date, both in terms of attendance and orders,” said Scott Cohen, executive vice president of sales at Coaster, whose showroom was on the top floor of the 16-story building. “I think it was the combined results of our new showroom, our new trucking program and our heavy push of introductions across all our major categories.”
Richard Olmeda, president and CEO of Building C exhibitor SteinWorld, said dealer attitudes were surprisingly upbeat, and several told him they were predicting a slight uptick in business in the fall.
“Our average order was up, and our actual written business was consistent with the last two markets here,” Olmeda said.
John DeFalco, senior executive vice president of Primo International, said business and order writing were good. Even so, he said, “We saw lighter attendance from our East Coast dealers this time than we did in January.”
Echoing the views of many other exhibitors, DeFalco said new product initiatives appeared to lead to a successful market.
“In our case, we debuted three new lines of leather upholstery, new dining collections, a completely new line of visco bedding, a new line of inner spring bedding and a new assortment of micro fiber upholstered goods. That gave us a story to tell and our dealers were listening,” he said.
Building A exhibitor Butler Specialty reported its best Las Vegas opening day ever in written orders. Dan Sumner, vice president of sales and marketing, attributed a portion of the success to the company’s decision to offer gifts along with certain levels of orders.
Solid wood casual dining specialist Canadel, a Building C exhibitor, reported that traffic was especially heavy from western states.
“As our first show, it was good. Obviously, we expect more in February,” said Jean Deveault, vice president of sales and marketing.
The next Las Vegas Market is set for Feb. 9-13. By late last week, WMC officials had not announced dates for the summer 2009 market.
Editor-in-chief Ray Allegrezza, Associate Editor Thomas Russell and Staff Writer Heath E. Combs contributed to this story.
