Clint Engel —
\nBut not all take advantage of perks<\/p>\n
AT THE MARKET \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Lisa and Nick Alcaro listened to Bruce Hornsby perform at Showplace on Thursday night and, like hundreds of others there, had a great time.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Alcaros, owners of Total Home D\u00c3\u00a9cor in Toronto, seem to reflect the feelings of a lot of buyers here. They like the improvements they see coming from the International Home Furnishings Market Authority, even if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not taking advantage of all of them.
\n <\/p>\n
But they also wonder why it has taken so long.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nice,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Lisa Alcaro of the nighttime entertainment. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s feels more like a holiday. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a nice way of getting together, but I think they should have done it a long time ago.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The small sampling of retailers interviewed at market about the new entertainment options and the universal registration system generally liked both or, at least, saw no harm in what the Market Authority is doing. That is, trying to make High Point a better, more enjoyable place to do business, more in line with the efficiency and entertainment flair of the World Market Center in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I feel (the new entertainment) makes a much more comfortable atmosphere now,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Lester Gorin, president of Gorin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Furniture in Norwich, Conn. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nice what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re trying to do \u00e2\u20ac\u201d make it more appealing to the retailer.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Gorin said he has been coming to High Point since 1960, and he called the hospitality at this market outstanding.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think the vendors have bent over backward to accommodate the retailers,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n
His praised the one-pass system too. Gorin, like many of the other retailers interviewed, typically registers in advance or through the International Home Furnishings Center and never really had a problem getting into other buildings where, in the past, some buyers were stopped and asked to register again.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s great that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing it, but they never really bothered you before,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In High Point all the buildings should be working together because it really is one market.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Jerry Baer, senior vice president of Pompano Beach, Fla.-based Baer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t taken advantage of the entertainment options yet, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153but look forward to it in the future.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
How big a difference it will make to his own shopping experience is hard to say. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re coming anyway,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is where our vendors are. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a nice improvement to make people feel more welcome.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Diane Daniels, president of Cleveland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Daniels Home Furnishings, said she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s enjoying the entertainment options because she hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t done the various market parties in a while, and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fun, because you get to talk to people you usually don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
While Daniels didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see any direct impact from universal registration (she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always done it in advance and, like some, didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realize anything had changed), Michael Uvanni of the high-end Michael Uvanni Interiors in Rome, N.Y., said one pass is a great improvement.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It makes it a lot easier and quicker to go through market, without a doubt,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n
Uvanni also is a fan of the new entertainment, calling it \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a nice break at the end of the day from being so focused on your work.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a different story for Bill Child, chairman of Salt Lake City-based R.C. Willey.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re asking a guy who is more or less a homebody,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not important to me. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d rather work, have a nice meal and go to bed.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Child said that even when he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shopping in Las Vegas, the entertainment scene is not for him.<\/p>\n
He has no objections to what the Market Authority is trying to do, but \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I prefer to focus,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said, adding it would take him a good 10 days to work the market if he was still as active in the business as he use to be. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s here this time for six days.<\/p>\n
Eric and Judy Blackledge of Blackledge Furniture in Corvallis, Ore., had more of a problem with the entertainment, noting the side-street bands at the Furniture\/Today kickoff parties the past two markets were so loud that conversation was nearly impossible.<\/p>\n
Eric Blackledge said High Point for him is a place to meet with non-competitors and discuss best ideas, best products and other topics. Sometimes, the entertainment has gotten in the way of this more important mission.<\/p>\n
Judy Blackledge added that perhaps the money would be better spent in other ways \u00e2\u20ac\u201d on a donation to the City of Hope or on a few true buyers lounges where groups of 20 or more retailers could get together outside of manufacturer showrooms.<\/p>\n
They also recommended developing a series of kiosks with computer terminals in market buildings where buyers could narrow their search for vendors they need to see by style, price, shipping destinations and other qualifiers.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That would make it easier to navigate the 12 million or so square feet of showrooms,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Eric Blackledge said.<\/p>\n
The big Resource Guide the market provides is not so useful, said Judy Blackledge, since it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cumbersome and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to know how to spell it to find it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
An online survey conducted prior to market by Furniture\/ Today and Home Accents Today seeking opinions on the market changes drew some 257 responses from retailers, sales representatives and vendors.<\/p>\n
While most respondents gave the online universal registration and entertainment options high marks, several retailers said they were here to work, not to be entertained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Clint Engel — But not all take advantage of perks AT THE MARKET \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Lisa and Nick Alcaro listened to Bruce Hornsby perform at Showplace on Thursday night and, like hundreds of others there, had a great time. The Alcaros, owners of Total Home D\u00c3\u00a9cor in Toronto, seem to reflect the feelings of a lot […]<\/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-586","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\/586","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=586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}