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The value of design is difficult for many furniture executives to quantify, but nearly all acknowledge its importance to profit margins.

Furniture/Today highlights products from High Point's 2013 Spring Market.

It's all about relationships in the upholstery category - relationships between dealers and suppliers, between case goods, upholstery, rug and accessories manufacturers and between sales reps and their clients.

Exclusive First Look at rugs of the 2013 Spring High Point Market

DANIA BEACH, Fla. — Industry veterans Manny Better and David Guy have opened a Connie Post-designed DecorSecrets store here, playing to young and affluent female shoppers with fresh, colorful and eclectic displays.

HOUSTON - He runs one of the most dynamic furniture stores in the nation, which he backs with a homegrown elixir of relentless, clever promotions, charitable events and educational programs. Jim McIngvale, Gallery Furniture's hardworking CEO, is a legendary figure on the retail landscape. And he's got an admission to make to a visiting Furniture Today reporter: Mattresses make his furniture empire run.

More than 200 furniture retailers, representatives, suppliers and other guests honored three industry leaders at a dinner and dance hosted here by the Greater Metropolitan Furnishings Assn.

For Michael Amini, formative years in Europe helped cultivate a lifelong appreciation for design that's evident at AICO/Amini Innovation Corp.

Throughout Furniture Marketing Group's 2013 Symposium here, one theme was driven home time and again: The days of sitting back and watching the traffic rush into your store are gone. Retailers need to lift their game, becoming that competitor they dread, and pull out all the stops when it comes to engaging their customers.