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David Perry

Did Vegas energize buyers, or were they just crammed in too tight?

Ready to get energized? Good, because our topic this week is the energy level at the recent Las Vegas market.

In a word, it was high. A number of the exhibitors I called on in Las Vegas commented on it. Frankly, I wasn’t expecting them to bring such a topic up. It is just not something that comes up in your typical market conversations. Of course, Vegas wasn’t your typical furniture market.

“The energy was incredible,” said Tim Oakhill, senior vice president of marketing at Simmons. Added Larry McKay, president of Comfort Solutions by King Koil: “The excitement in the World Market Center and in our showroom was awesome. It was beyond our expectations.”

Exhibitors I surveyed attributed the energy to the excitement of a fresh market center and buyers who were happy to be in Las Vegas. Some speculated that the energy exhibited by retailers will flow back into their businesses, injecting a dose of excitement in the retail climate across the country. That would be a very good thing.

But there is another side to this energy issue, I have noticed. And that is the side that suggests the energy in Las Vegas was stimulated by lots of people crammed into a relatively small amount of space.

“If you opened the High Point market on day one and put everybody in 1.3 million square feet, you’d have a lot of excitement, too,” said one Greensboro-based home furnishings supplier, who was at the Las Vegas show. “When they get to 12 million square feet,” he added, “they won’t look so busy.”

A couple of comments on those comments: First, the market in Las Vegas did not just look busy; it was busy. Major exhibitors raved about their traffic. Second, if it is true that smaller spaces generate more excitement, then the High Point market has a problem in the energy category. Since it is the largest market we have, it would thus have the most difficulty
in generating energy.

We all know what is said about the traffic levels we observe in High Point: The market is so spread out now that you don’t see the buyers congregating as much in a centralized location. There is certainly some truth to that insight, although I do maintain that activity at certain key locations in High Point – say Main Street in front of the International Home Furnishings Center – does provide an indication of overall market vitality.

But if it is true that putting more people into smaller spaces produces energy and excitement, I don’t know what High Point can do to energize itself. Leading producers have large showrooms in High Point. They aren’t about to suddenly downsize, just to boost their EQ – Energy Quotient. Part of the appeal of High Point is that you can see everything there, in spacious, beautiful showrooms.

I have to wonder if some of the comments about the energy in Vegas being forced by tight quarters are just clever anti-Vegas spin. When I am packed into a market elevator in High Point or in Vegas, I don’t feel myself swelling with energy. If anything, big crowds tend to deflate me.

So I’ll end this musing with a question or two to you: Did the experience itself – the excitement of being in a new building in Las Vegas - energize buyers, or were they just buzzing because so many buyers were packed into relatively small showrooms? Or was it some of both?(to add public comments click on "Add your Comment" below, or to email Dave directly click here.)