High Point's Saturday opening likely to stay
If you weren’t thrilled with the new Saturday opening of last month’s High Point Market, my advice is to get used to it. It’s unlikely that the Market Authority, the group that oversees the event, will consider yet another date change anytime soon.
“We need to have some consistency,” Market Authority President Brian Casey said at the group’s board meeting last month.
The Saturday opening day, which drew mixed reviews from the exhibitors I visited, was implemented at the behest of interior designers and some exhibitors in the Hamilton-Wrenn district. They complained vociferously that the Monday-through-Sunday format, which had been in place since the fall of 2006, made it difficult for designers to shop the market.
Designers said they prefer to shop on weekends, and since the weekend had been at the end of market, most executives had left High Point and many showrooms had closed before they arrived in town.
Obviously, the Market Authority believes the Saturday opening is a workable compromise between the needs of designers and those of other retailers. Plus, the group is probably reluctant to tackle any date changes at this point, considering that the format has been changed three times in the past four years.
They implementation of the Monday-through-Sunday format, as you may recall, coincided with shifting the market to March and September. The March and September dates proved to be very unpopular, and following the March 2007 market, the Market Authority board reverted back to April and October dates but kept the Monday-through-Sunday format.
The current Saturday-to-Thursday schedule was approved last summer, and the Market Authority has published market dates through 2015. This fall’s market opens Oct. 17.
Larry Karel commented:
Enjoyed reading....A high point market, a major event should not be a problem when it opens as business is business and it is ONLY twice a year...Our regional markets are starting to shy away from a weekend since the economy has been poor as the dealers want to stick close to their stores and catch every consumer they can.
Patti commented:
As an interior designer and a stocking dealer with a studio showroom filled with furnishings that are a result of the "big stores" closing or showing less product, I appreciate the fact that the market is open over the weekend so that there is less time away from my studio and from selling product. That to me is the basic tenure of our industry, selling- the idea that people would view this as pandering to designers is incomprehensible, we are a viable, contributing force in this business. And I would think, whether you are big, top 100 or small, any serious buyer would appreciate less time out of their business on productive days.
Grew up in HP commented:
I have a novel idea - let's start market on Thursday! That way retailers can shop outside showrooms Wed, be inside Thurs & Fri, either be at home Sat or stay over Sat night for cheaper air fares while the designers can come in for the weekend. The show is essentially over by Tuesday, so all the supppliers can troop through then without disrupting salespeople.
Peter commented:
And I thought we were there for the retailers? And shouldn't we allow them to be in the stores on the biggest retail days of the week. Our industry is so out of touch with reality. Traffic 8% down at last High Point??
Furn. Rep commented:
I like the new dates. It was nice to see retailers in High Point on the last day for a change. It was also nice to see the "big dealers" actually adhere to the market dates instead of coming 2-3 days before the market was supposed to begin.
Katrina commented:
Let’s not designer bash verses “big retailers”. I am a designer and am being asked even more by my client’s to assist in furniture because many of our BIG guys are out of business. Anyone, including the designer, who can spend a dollar at market should be considered a good prospect. I found that when I attended this spring, by Wed. it looked like a ghost town and I left without going back on Thursday as the rumor was that alot of showrooms weren’t going to open. Market is market- I’ve been faithful to come during bad times and good times, I don’t think my “designer” money was frowned upon at anytime. What happens to HP when the major retailers aren’t able to weather the economic storm? Who will they pander to then?
Mark commented:
If it weren't for designers our firm would be on the rocks. PLEASE continue to listen to them.
My other input is that Market should run thru Friday. We missed out on many in-town dealers who were tied up at the bigger MFGrs and ran out of time for us little guys....
Why? commented:
Tom,
Regardless of being on the wholesale or retail side, most of us have families and travel way too much. As a result, I hardly call the dates an “insignificant issuesâ€.
matt commented:
We are an exhibitor in the IHFC-opening Saturday and Sunday were quite dead-mon, tues, weds were the big days.
The small and mid sized dealers don't want to leave the stores on the weekends, and the bigger guys are a mixed bag..
I don't think the date change was to appeal to designers but to spread things out over the length of the market-which I think it did.
With the new days I am only in HP over 1 weekend instead of 2-so that's a good thing.
Tom commented:
I don't think it matters when the market starts or stops. The majors will shop, as will any legitimate retailer. That is their business. Walking the market, it seemed like the flow was much more consistent, instead of the crush at the beginning and the lull at the end. Now, let's focus on getting this industry back on its feet instead of carping on insignificant issues.
Brian commented:
They changed it because of the designers? Get in touch with reality, people. I hope High Point snaps out of this or the small amount of relevance the market has left will be completely gone.
Why commented:
What moron is listening to designers instead of the major retails? Here is a novel idea, ask the top 100 what days they want to shop!
STOCKING Dealer commented:
This is what our industry has come to: pandering to designers. So sad.
