By Dennis Seid
TUPELO -The next gathering of industry
retailers and exhibitors at the Tupelo Furniture Market won’t be in June as originally planned.
Instead, market officials announced Saturday that the market was sticking to its old standby Fall Market in August.
Last year, the market moved its February event to January and also announced it would move the August show to June. But after mulling it over, TFM owner and CEO V.M. Cleveland said he was convinced the August market should be left alone.
“We moved the Spring Market from February to January and called it our Winter Market, something most of our retailers were telling us they wanted us to do,” he said. “But in the middle of all this talk about moving that date, we got caught up in thinking we needed to move the August market. After talking to many of the people here, we decided that most everybody was OK with the August market as it is.”
While the dates haven’t been confirmed just yet, Cleveland said the Fall Market will likely occur during the third week of August. If it stays on its current Wednesday to Saturday format, that would mean the Fall Market would be Aug. 15-18.
Reaction to the announcement was mixed. Some exhibitors said they welcomed the move because they believed June is normally a very slow month in the industry anyway. But others who liked the June dates said they didn’t like having to fall behind Las Vegas again.
“I know we won’t be able to make everybody happy, but we have to do what we think is best for everybody,” Cleveland said.
Don Ketels, owner of Bestcraft Furniture in Wisconsin, said he liked the January market date, even though attendance was off. It didn’t matter to him if the next show was in June or August – he just hopes buyers will keep coming.
“I think it would help a lot of the vendors if you make the markets a Tuesday through Friday show, and not open on the weekend at all,” he said.
While foot traffic sagged significantly at the Winter Market, Ketels said business was still OK.
“Most of the people around us have had a good market,” said Ketels, who showed in Mississippi Building D. “There’s not a reason for us not to come back. You just have to stay optimistic. This is a very important market for a lot of people, and I’d hate for anything to happen to it.”
Contact Daily Journal business editor Dennis Seid at 678-1578 or dennis.seid@djournal.com.
