— Furniture Today
\nTUPELO, Miss. — Will hot deals and warm Southern hospitality be enough to lift the summer market cycle out of the doldrums?
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\nThis week will determine if Tupelo can match business with the steamy temperatures that\u00c2\u00a0 likely will greet visitors at the last of the summer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s major markets \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and the final August market before Tupelo switches its next midyear event to a June 13 opening.<\/p>\n
Most exhibitors think it will be a market of light traffic, with buyers from many of the smaller regional stores staying home. A key will be the number of Top 100 retailers who show up looking for market promotions and specials for which Tupelo is well known.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153In regard to attendance, we did visit Dallas, Atlanta and Las Vegas and, through no fault of any of those markets, all traffic was noticeably down,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Bill Cleveland, president of the Tupelo Furniture Market.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You can credit that to soft retail conditions, the economy and the $3 a gallon-and-rising cost of gas,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see any miracle on the horizon that will change this trend for our market.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Cleveland said that he expects \u00e2\u20ac\u0153serious buyers to be here,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d based on an increase in Top 100 stores that have pre-registered. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We do feel like the right people will be here buying product because they need it to stimulate retail sales back in their own markets.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Tupelo exhibitors have a reputation of offering deals at market to lure retailers. And market organizers will continue the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Tupelo-Only Special\u00e2\u20ac\u009d program they launched a year ago to add credence to that policy.<\/p>\n
Cleveland described the program as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153an exclusive club\u00e2\u20ac\u009d limited to exhibitors willing to provide values beyond the norm, and which are unavailable at other markets.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We want to keep it pure and real so it means something to the retailers,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We think the program will grow.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Tupelo is shifting to Jan. 10-13 and June 13-16 dates next year at the request of both dealers and buyers, according to Cleveland. The January show will allow time for merchandise to reach showroom floors in time for the tax rebate season, which he said is now earlier because of electronic filing. The June show will speed merchandise to stores in time for Labor Day and other holiday sales, he said. And it will give buyers of imported merchandise more time to plan advertising and marketing budgets.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153V.M. (Cleveland, market owner and chairman), coming from a retail business, believes in giving customers what they want,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Bill Cleveland, who is V.M.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brother.<\/p>\n
He said that the show will welcome about 70 new exhibitors, including Highland Designs, Picture Galleries Inc., Canus, Bailey Street Holding Co., Bulova and Smith Furniture. He could not say whether the new exhibitors would be equal to the number of exhibitors that have pulled out, such as Hughes Furniture Inds. and Michels & Co.<\/p>\n
Herb Hester, president of Caye Home Furnishings, which includes Simmons Upholstery, Stratford and Homewood International and has a large showroom in Mississippi Building A, expects the market to be light in traffic but heavy in big hitters.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Frankly, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see much of a departure from past Tupelo market shopping,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hester said.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to be looking for values and I think they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to be looking for programs and ideas that might give a spike for the fall of the year.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
North Carolina warehouse operation Luke Leather will be here for the second time, having found its niche in Tupelo, its sole market location.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We went out (to Tupelo) with mixed expectations last February but successfully opened new dealers in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and surrounding states,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said President Scott Davis. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have built a customer base of more than 300 in less than a year.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
He tried showing in High Point last year, but won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be back.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We do not see the value. For us, as a small business, there is no return,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n
To generate business in Tupelo this week, Davis said, Luke Leather will offer special programs for large dealers and also for small design firms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
— Furniture Today TUPELO, Miss. — Will hot deals and warm Southern hospitality be enough to lift the summer market cycle out of the doldrums?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-furniture-world-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1617\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}