Larry Thomas — Furniture Today,
Retailers on hunt for promotional goods

TUPELO, Miss. — Living up to its reputation as a haven for traffic-building promotions, the Tupelo Furniture Market kicked off its 20th anniversary celebration with a flurry of order-writing.

Exhibitors said opening-day traffic was lighter than expected — especially in the morning when many hallways were sparsely populated — but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of retailers trying to combat the sales slump that has gripped the industry for months.

As usual, promotional upholstery was high on the shopping lists of many buyers, but exhibitors also reported considerable interest in categories such as casual dining, bedding and entertainment furniture.

“We had good traffic on opening day,” said Ron Ashley, president of case goods and upholstery resource Vineyard Furniture International. “We were fortunate that retailers showed a great deal of interest not only in our case goods, but in our upholstery.”

Exhibitors said the combination of sluggish retail sales and the market is taking place less than three weeks after the Las Vegas Market probably curtailed attendance, but most said order-writing was brisk, especially from small and midsized dealers from the Southeast.

“A lot of people are very loyal to this show,” said Edwin Shoffner, vice president of sales at bedding producer Park Place. “They come back year after year.”

Jeff Cook, president of first-time exhibitor Broyhill, said he was pleased with opening day, and said he also was impressed with the attentiveness of the Tupelo market staff.

“We had a strong opening day,” said Cook, whose company is one of about 100 new exhibitors here. “The buyers we’ve seen have been seriously interested in our line.”

Two of the busiest showrooms were operated by case goods and upholstery powerhouse Ashley and locally based Fraenkel, a resource for case goods, upholstery and bedding.

“Promotional upholstery is what drives retail business, and this market is the place for promotional upholstery,” said Fraenkel President Brian Akchin.

Akchin said traffic was strong on Tuesday — the day before the official opening — and continued into Wednesday.

Kerry Lebensburger, who oversees sales at Ashley, agreed. He said that about a dozen Top 100 retailers were among the approximately 275 who had visited the Ashley showroom by mid-afternoon Wednesday.

“Our Georgia reps saw more dealers on Tuesday than they saw at the entire Las Vegas Market,” Lebensburger said.