Gary Evans
\nLower Tupelo traffic doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t curb orders<\/p>\n
TUPELO, Miss.\u00c2\u00a0— Low traffic and exhibitor whining usually go hand in hand, but that wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the case for upholstered furniture makers at the semiannual market here.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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.
\n
\nThat meant most manufacturers went home happy.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The quality of buyers and new customers was good,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Larry George, president of big promotional upholstery house\u00c2\u00a0 United Furniture Inds.<\/p>\n
Jim Sneed, vice president of Affordable Furniture, which recently celebrated its first year of shipments, said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We had a good, steady flow of traffic, and order-writing was good. More importantly, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve programmed new SKUs to a lot of majors.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My advice would be to change the dates to mid-January, traditionally a slow month except for the sales,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Charles \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Casey\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Jones, owner of Posturecraft, an upholstery and mattress company based in Double Springs, Ala.<\/p>\n
He described the February\u00c2\u00a0 market here as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mediocre\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sporadic\u00e2\u20ac\u009d traffic.<\/p>\n
Overall, however, producers seemed to enjoy the latest Tupelo edition.<\/p>\n
Gary Young, sales manager for Still Creek, which introduced three traditional frames in the $599, $699 and $799 retail price points, said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In terms of order-writing, it was great \u00e2\u20ac\u201d so much better than six months ago and better than a year ago.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
He said the Pontotoc, Miss.-based company opened \u00e2\u20ac\u0153numerous\u00e2\u20ac\u009d new accounts. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s two things: Word is around that we make a quality product, and we have a strong sales force.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Rich Favata, an owner of New Generations, whose product sells at promotional to lower-medium price points, said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Attendance was down but this is still a viable market. If I can see 15 of my top accounts, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important…. In general, there were a lot of very important people who were here. but a lot of important people who weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
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 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153picked up some very good accounts,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said executive Sam Robinson.<\/p>\n
He said Hillcraft\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s show hit, a two-piece armless loveseat\/chaise combo in contrasting microfibers targeted at $799 retail.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We hit such a home run with it that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re adding new pieces (a curved corner unit, armless chair and cocktail ottoman),\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Robinson.<\/p>\n
Leather\/fabric combos also were in the spotlight at Genesis.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We had one style a year ago and it started selling like crazy,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Tim Mueller, vice president and director of merchandising. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We added two more styles in October and two more this time.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
This market\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s introductions were light and dark paisleys with bicast urethane arms and front rail, at $899 retail.<\/p>\n
Upholstery and bedding company Fraenkel \u00e2\u20ac\u201d which is re-emphasizing its core products and putting less attention on its imported case goods and occasional \u00e2\u20ac\u201d showed 51 silhouettes here, 20 of them new, according to Jim Burress, vice president, merchandising.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We put emphasis on products we can control,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten too broad.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Among Fraenkel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new products here were what the company called a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153five-pack,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with five various looks at one targeted retail price of $899 for a sofa and loveseat.<\/p>\n
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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Gulf Coast hurricanes, and people are beginning to replace furniture. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Also, a lot of buying groups are buying upholstery,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gary Evans Lower Tupelo traffic doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t curb orders TUPELO, Miss.\u00c2\u00a0— Low traffic and exhibitor whining usually go hand in hand, but that wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t 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 […]<\/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-233","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\/233","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=233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}