Gary Evans
Lower Tupelo traffic doesn’t curb orders

TUPELO, Miss. — Low traffic and exhibitor whining usually go hand in hand, but that wasn’t the case for upholstered furniture makers at the semiannual market here.

The difference was a steady flow of orders, with much of it coming from large-volume retailers who seem to show up lately to save markets from attendance declines.

That meant most manufacturers went home happy.

“The quality of buyers and new customers was good,” said Larry George, president of big promotional upholstery house  United Furniture Inds.

Jim Sneed, vice president of Affordable Furniture, which recently celebrated its first year of shipments, said, “We had a good, steady flow of traffic, and order-writing was good. More importantly, we’ve programmed new SKUs to a lot of majors.”

There were more complaints about the timing of the show here than about attendance, with several manufacturers saying the dates should be earlier to take advantage of tax refund season, when promotional customers typically shop for furniture.

“My advice would be to change the dates to mid-January, traditionally a slow month except for the sales,” said Charles “Casey” Jones, owner of Posturecraft, an upholstery and mattress company based in Double Springs, Ala.

He described the February  market here as “mediocre” with “sporadic” traffic.

Overall, however, producers seemed to enjoy the latest Tupelo edition.

Gary Young, sales manager for Still Creek, which introduced three traditional frames in the $599, $699 and $799 retail price points, said, “In terms of order-writing, it was great — so much better than six months ago and better than a year ago.”

He said the Pontotoc, Miss.-based company opened “numerous” new accounts. “I think it’s two things: Word is around that we make a quality product, and we have a strong sales force.”

Rich Favata, an owner of New Generations, whose product sells at promotional to lower-medium price points, said, “Attendance was down but this is still a viable market. If I can see 15 of my top accounts, it’s important…. In general, there were a lot of very important people who were here. but a lot of important people who weren’t.”

New Albany, Miss.-based Hillcraft Furniture occupied a highly visible new space in Mississippi Building D, and offered new sofa collections and salespeople. The company “picked up some very good accounts,” said executive Sam Robinson.

He said Hillcraft’s emphasis was on better styling and covers, incorporated into a new traditional paisley at $499 retail, a new chenille plaid casual traditional and the company’s show hit, a two-piece armless loveseat/chaise combo in contrasting microfibers targeted at $799 retail.

“We hit such a home run with it that we’re adding new pieces (a curved corner unit, armless chair and cocktail ottoman),” said Robinson.

Leather/fabric combos also were in the spotlight at Genesis.

“We had one style a year ago and it started selling like crazy,” said Tim Mueller, vice president and director of merchandising. “We added two more styles in October and two more this time.”

This market’s introductions were light and dark paisleys with bicast urethane arms and front rail, at $899 retail.

Upholstery and bedding company Fraenkel — which is re-emphasizing its core products and putting less attention on its imported case goods and occasional — showed 51 silhouettes here, 20 of them new, according to Jim Burress, vice president, merchandising.

“We put emphasis on products we can control,” he said. “We’ve gotten too broad.”

Among Fraenkel’s new products here were what the company called a “five-pack,” with five various looks at one targeted retail price of $899 for a sofa and loveseat.

Burress said the company saw its regular customers at market, but not many new people. Business for Fraenkel is strong, he said, partly because the Baton Rouge, La.-based company is close to areas devastated by last year’s Gulf Coast hurricanes, and people are beginning to replace furniture. “Also, a lot of buying groups are buying upholstery,” he said.