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Market Report — Los Angeles

By Maria Weiskott -- Gifts and Dec, 1/23/2008 11:55:00 AM

January 23, 2008 — It was a hat trick for Los Angeles this past weekend, with three shows running simultaneously in the city: The Gift and Home Furnishing Market at the L.A. Mart; the California Gift Show, operated by George Little Management, at the Los Angeles Convention Center; and the “Gift and Home Market” at the California Market Center. The upbeat mood we found at the season’s previous markets continued on the West Coast, with most of the vendors we spoke to noting they were having a “good show,” even though they found the traffic to be slow at times. But with three venues, numerous workshops, and some heavy duty “star power” (such as "Golden Girl" Betty White at the L.A. Mart) to serve as distractions, slower traffic didn’t seem surprising to us.

Importantly, we did see order-writing going on — which affirms our belief that while mass and big box retail is expected to continue faltering this year, independent retailers are of a different mindset. Retailers said their business has been good, and they expect it to continue to be good in spite of recession fears. “My store is fun and full of unique product. People want to come to my store,” a retailer from Hawaii told us. “They always make a purchase,” she added.

Fun and unique product is what separates the “specialists” from the masses, so it makes sense that during lean times consumers will shop at an independent store for the kind of gift that hasn’t been featured in a TV commercial — not to mention the emotional lift and the “ahhhh” aspect of shopping at an independent retail outlet.

Products Galore

Show attendees found a good amount of product — both unique and not-so-unique, but functional — to suit the tastes of all types of consumers at L.A.’s three show venues. The new juried World Style section in Kentia Hall at the Convention Center offered a huge selection of international merchandise from an array of countries, as well as product made by Native Americans. In the mix: artifacts, sculpture, craft, jewelry, antiques and home furnishings, among other products.

The show’s restructured South Hall at the Convention Center was split into 10 product divisions, making the show much more user-friendly — easier to navigate and spot specific product categories. Ditto for the L.A. Mart’s newly redesigned second floor: easy to navigate and spot specific product.

As for trends:

· Continuation of retro themes — highly lacquered “peace” paperweights designed by Molly Kinney for Cole River, fun peace sign plush with tween appeal from Bee Posh, and mod-design serveware and trays from Michel Design Works

Paperwieght accent pieces by Molly Kinney

Bee Posh plush for tweens

Michel Design Works trays

· Eco-friendly products — whitewashed bamboo bath accessories from Cole River, florals from Nature Crafts made with palm leaves and reed from mango trees, and silk-filled comforters from several vendors

· The presence of the metallic look across categories — accent pieces from Originals By Judy, and

Home Fragrance from Lladro

embossed leather serving trays with a metallic look

· Extension in the personal care and home fragrance categories. Lladro, for example, is offering a home fragrance in sustainable accent figurines designed by Spanish sculptor Jaime Hayón. The fragrances (among them “I love you, Mom”) were developed expressly for Lladro by the French company, MP2 Cosmetic Solutions.

Abahna personal care package

There was also a predominance of upscale product and an array of unique packaging. Abahna offered a number of personal care products in stunning, reusable, high design packaging that caught our eye — especially the Bento Box duo, and a Ceremony of Bathing ensemble that contained an array of fragrances to mix and a “recipe” book explaining the homeopathic benefits of each. The UK-based company began distributing in the United States ony last year.

Personal care products from Izabella, a U.S.-based care company, offered an array of silk-wrapped items — each “wrapping” reusable as a cosmetics case or for other items.

We also noticed a preponderance of fashion accessories at both the L.A. Mart and at the California Gift Show, which large section of accessories included purses, jewelry, scarves, luggage, sunglasses and eyeglasses, among other products. One booth that attracted a lot of attention had just one product: lighted tweezers by Tweezelight. (That’s a product we doubt needs a whole lot of explaining.)

SDS Seapoot Group/Viz

There was also a prevalence of art glass of all dimensions and types. We were especially struck by the black and white fused glass vases from Eastern Design and amazing chandeliers from SDS Seapoot Group/Viz.

Cool and Different and Whimsical

Of course, at every show we find a good deal of offbeat stuff we’d have in our store — that is, if we had one — as well as a showroom or two that is truly unique.

One showroom in the L.A. Mart could rival a favorite bookstore, sans today’s obligatory coffee bar, of course. An extension of the Stephen Young showroom, this one was for books of all kinds — coffee table, resource, kids and more. Light and bright with tables and chairs to settle in for a good read, the showroom was packed; and yes, for buying as well as browsing.

Among the very cool stuff we found:

Patio lights from New Creative

New Creative

A fun knock-on-wood product from Hollander Olsen for those times when we are surrounded by plastic and could use some luck

Hollander Olsen

La Loop eyeglass holders in a fashion-forward link necklace variety

La Loop

This Works personal care

A line of personal care products named This Works, targeted for specific areas of the body

A bright furniture accent piece from Dynasty Products; holds an entire a video collection (with a secret compartment in the back to hold those ummmm…..more personal videos of not-for-prime-time variety)
Switch Flops — which we knew about, but learned that in April the company will introduce a kids line and a kitten heel line

LePatissier towel cakes

By far one of the coolest product lines we saw was in the Gifts Etc. section of the California Gift Show. Nestled among gourmet food items such as chocolate, spreads, dips and the like, it was mobbed with buyers and staffed by employees in starched white aprons and chef’s hats. From what we could glimpse, the fare on the refrigerated shelves looked yummy — cupcakes, cakes, desserts, old-fashioned log cakes. The brand name of the products: Le Patissier. When we finally reached the front of the line (mouth watering) we could only stare in amazement. The fine pastries were actually…towels. Although we couldn’t have a taste, we weren’t disappointed because it was such a delightful surprise.

Next stop, Chicago. And look for Double Take Atlanta in your mailbox tomorrow.

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