— Furniture Today,
SHANGHAI, China — With an additional 200,000 square feet of space, organizers of next month’s China International Furniture


Expo here predict it will be one of the largest and best attended in the market’s 12-year history.

The Sept. 11-14 show will be held in 2.4 million square feet spread out over three venues — the Shanghai New International Expo Center, INTEX Shanghai and the Shanghai Mart. The latter two are being added to accommodate the growing number of manufacturers seeking to show at the event.

All told, some 1,500 exhibitors are set for the September show, most of which sell indoor residential furniture. Last year, just over 1,400 companies exhibited.

Along with residential upholstery and case goods, the Shanghai show will feature fabric and lighting, office and kitchen furniture, and a furniture supplier event called ZOW.

The Shanghai Mart will house outdoor furniture and indoor residential furniture, and INTEX will house mostly upholstery.

Thanks to the added space and new categories such as kitchen furniture, show officials predict the event will draw 80,000 visitors from over 130 countries, up from about 60,000 in 2012. About 8,300 of those were international visitors, including 724 from the United States, which had the second-highest number of international visitors after Japan at 885.

Jake Jabs, president and CEO of Englewood, Colo.-based Top 100 store American Furniture Warehouse, plans to attend again this year. He’s been coming to the show since its inception, and likes the selection of leather and microfiber upholstery, a growing category for Chinese manufacturers. It’s also a good show for office furniture, including some ready-to-assemble groups and leather office chairs, Jabs said.

“Leather is one of the hot things there,” he said. “Most of the Chinese leather comes from the Shanghai area.”
In the early days, Jabs said, he and his associates typically spent one day at the show. This time, they’ll be there for three days.

One exhibitor set to show here is Fine Furniture Shanghai, which has a case goods plant about an hour southeast of Shanghai that supplies its U.S. marketing arm, Fine Furniture Design and Marketing.

Lifestyle Enterprise, which has a Shanghai-area office employing about 50 people, will show for the first time here in a 3,000-square-foot space. About 70% of the product it shows will be from Lifestyle’s Shanghai Leather division.

“It makes sense for us (to show in Shanghai),” said Managing Director James Riddle. “We have a major office there. That is the future as far as Asia is concerned. We feel we have to show there.”

Lifestyle expects to see some U.S. customers at the show, but also is banking on a host  of buyers from other countries to help grow its international business.

For more information on the show, visit www.furniture-china.cn, or www.cmpsinoexport.com/furniture.