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Direct from Market: Las Vegas

By Caroline Kennedy -- Gifts and Dec, 2/13/2009 10:30:00 AM

World Market Center, Las Vegas Gift, home decor and furniture buyers and vendors making their way to the Las Vegas Market were greeted each morning, February 9–13, by high energy music from a live band in the World Market Center’s courtyard. The music put attendees in an upbeat mood to conduct business. Despite the happy mood set, buyer traffic is reportedly somewhat down by at least 2 percent over January 2008, according to the figures released by World Market Center.

Paralleling other recent gift and decorative accessories markets, reports from gift exhibitors are mixed, with some reporting good business and steady traffic, others noting the buyers come in spurts — one hour the showroom is jammed, the next hour they are empty — while others are reporting lower than expected sales. Part of the anecdotal reporting on the strength of business at this – or any of the markets – is not solely a reflection of the market alone but in the efforts put forth by the individual vendors in marketing themselves to bring their customers to market, as well as their sales presence in engaging potential customers at the market itself.

The Las Vegas Market is attracting buyer traffic from all over. Scanning badges as we moved through the market, Gifts & Decorative Accessories noted a significant presence of international buyers, including one gentleman from Australia, whom we encountered on an elevator. Other buyers noted came from coast to coast and north to south — from California to Massachusetts, and Alaska to Florida. One buyer we encountered from the East Coast admitted that he liked coming to the market. Its appeal? Having a good reason to come toVegas. Other buyers from a gift and garden store on the West Coast that we met were trying out the market for the first time because they were disenchanted with the other West Coast markets.

The gift segment of the market is still struggling to establish itself and carve out its niche in a venue originally positioned as a furniture market. But it is growing. World Market Center has put together a strong and knowledgeable team to develop and grow the gift category. And there is a strong core of established vendors in place who have opened showrooms and committed to temporary spaces to establish their presence in the marketplace, which is beginning to attract more gift and home decor buyers.

In a bold move, World Market Center is launching a separate Gift + Home Market in June 2010 to run Sunday–Thursday, June 13–17. Some showroom exhibitors have mixed emotions about the launch of another gift show. There is an understanding that the timing of the furniture markets in February and September do not jibe with the needs of the gift buyers whom the market center is trying to cultivate; yet adding another gift show to an already jam-packed exhibition calendar creates additional burdens for both manufacturers and sales reps. But if the World Market Center hopes to continue with its growth plan and populate its showrooms with exhibitors and its aisles with gift buyers, this is an area that it feels that it needs to develop; it needs to provide gift retailers with an attractive range of product offerings at a time that matches their ordering needs.

Let There Be Light – ing Accessories
The temporary exhibits in Building C, where the majority of the gift and decorative accessories exhibitors are located, experienced a steady flow of buyers wandering through the areas. Wanda Guadamud of FrockZ was enthusiastic about the reception that her lamp slipcovers were drawing from both gift and home accents store buyers, as well as decorators. “We’ve been busy here,” she remarked. The company and its line, which only launched a year ago, continues to grow with new patterns that tap into home décor fashion. The slipcovers give new life to old lampshades and update plain shades with pattern options.

Light Charms is another way to dress up a plain lamp or other lighting fixture. The company has added new occasional decorative motifs to its line of magnetic lighting accents. New to the line are cupcake charms for birthdays and other celebrations, and decorated eggs for Easter and spring. Nautical motifs continue to be strong sellers, and the big surprise … the pig charm!

Laura Ashley candles, which are manufactured and distributed by Candle-lite, introduced its holiday seasonal candle collection. The seasonal line consists of three sizes of candles in three colors (red, green and ivory) and fragrances (Red Currant & Quince, Douglas Fir & Cedarwood, and Warm Amber & Teakwood). The candles are all beautifully packaged; there is a 19-oz. jar candle with an engraved metal lid, a 7-oz. candle in a flocked gift box, and a 9½-oz. candle in a decorative tin with engraved metal lid. In the Laura Ashley everyday line, the company introduced a tower display unit for retailers wishing for a merchandiser with a smaller footprint than the hutch display introduced earlier this year. Laura Ashley is making a concerted effort to re-establish its brand awareness with the American consumer and establish its name with a new generation of customer. The company is delving into its archive of classic patterns and simplifying reinterpreting them for today’s design sensibilities. In addition to the candles, other licensed lines will include home textiles and tabletop gifts such as tea-for-one sets.

Recycled glass accessories by Christina Duarte through Ecoarts

Temp – tations and More
Ecoarts presented an attractive display of decorative accessories handcrafted by a collective of Brazilian artisans. The non-profit organization works with the artisans to help develop the handicraft industry and market their products. Many of the artisans work with recycled materials such as metal, wood and glass, while others work in natural, native materials such as soapstone and plant fibers. Each artist has a unique yet sophisticated style. Of particular interest are the recycled slab glass sculptures and platters by Christina Duarte, the metalworks, both functional and decorative, by Marcio Ferreira, and the soapstone vessels by Dionisia.

C&F Enterprises

C&F Enterprises had a very large presence in the Building C temporaries. The spacious area gave the company the opportunity to create an easily readable display of both its C&F Enterprises home textiles and bedding lines as well as its Gallerie II holiday and home accents lines.. National sales manager Jennifer Sheridan noted that the space being occupied by the company at this market will become its permanent showroom space. After signing the leasing agreement, the company just didn’t have enough time to build its showroom in time for the market and used the space instead as a temporary setup. After market, they will pack up

Fabric sculpture Nativity from Gallerie II

the displays and start to build the permanent showroom. Sheridan noted that they were having very good traffic through the area and were reaching a lot of new customers. “There’s a good crossover here with furniture. Customers are coming to Vegas to see what it’s all about; it’s growing and new. And Vegas creates a mood and set the energy right from the start with the music outside that sets the tone to get buyers in the mood, energized, happy and upbeat.”

Artisan House debuted several new metal wall sculptures that are on trend with current fashion colors combining abstract elements of purple, silvery gray and dark gunmetal gray. One particularly intriguing piece takes on an entirely different look and color balance, almost chameleon-like, when hung on different colored backgrounds. And another new abstract piece, which was described as having a “retro feel” to it, took on a somewhat landscape feel to it, being likened to a silvery flowing river flanked by warm metallic river stones.

Artisan House

Uneven Traffic, Good Sales
Buyer traffic came to the SPI showroom in intermittent waves. The showroom, being on the eighth floor of Building C is right in the middle, so buyers either start at the top of the building on floor 16 and work their way down, or begin on the ground floor and work their way up. One of the biggest sellers this market is the company’s pet accessories—a ceramic dog bowl on a raised metal stand and coordinating dog leash hook. Garden decor is a strong and growing category for the company.

The Sadek showroom, located in Building B, also reported buyer traffic in intermittent waves, but sales were steady and buyers came prepared to buy.

Imax celebrated its 25th anniversary during the market with a reception marking the milestone. The company has two showrooms; the main showroom is in Building A, and it reported good traffic and brisk sales. The other showroom in Building C showcases its seasonal decor and helps to build cross traffic between the different buildings and is positioned to build sales among holiday decor buyers.

Other key exhibitors, such as Global Views, which attracts buyers from all segments of the market — furniture stores, decorators, home accents retailers, gift shops and florists, also reported steady traffic and strong sales. And Lazy Susan had a prominent and attractive display in the Dillon-Wells showroom. Lazy Susan's David Moses reported that sales were good and that even though the line has a very upscale decorator look, it is positioned with a range of price points that make much of the line affordable for the gift and decorative accessories retailer as well as the high end furniture and home accents store.

The Evergreen Enterprises showroom is poised in a corner location in Building C on what is to become the corridor to the next building, Building D. District manager Ellen Zink noted that they were developing new accounts through the showroom and that the order-writing was good.

Lanvin collectible fashion doll figurines by Franz Collection

Franz Collection's Lanvin fashion doll figurines

In the Franz showroom, vice-president of sales and marketing Shonnie Bilin remarked that the company’s Jean Boggio collection, which launched at the summer Las Vegas Market was getting a lot of interest from designers and contract business. This market, Franz introduced a new line of collectible figurines based on the fashions of French designer Lanvin. These charming fashion dolls have a lot of appealing personality to go with the couture styles they model. Each comes beautifully packaged in a gift box featuring the Lanvin logo.

Coast to Coast
In addition to its regular showroom on the sixth floor of Building C, Onecoast had a small satellite temporary showroom on the fifth floor in which it featured the gift lines of its national division — among them Switchflops, Alexa’s Angels, Danielson Designs and Woodstock Chimes, among others. The temporary space was a last-minute opportunity that Onecoast took advantage of for the benefit of providing the additional exposure for its gift lines. Although some buyers, and one Gifts & Decorative Accessories editor, were a little surprised and even a tiny bit confused by it at first, the temp space did generate additional sales opportunity for the featured lines and drive additional traffic to the upstairs main showroom. Senior VP Nancy Lee noted that business had been steady and the showroom was busy. She observed that being a multi-line showroom with a number of gift lines in addition to home decor adds dimension to the market and the variety offered in one place is a plus for buyers, who can see so much in one place.

Palecek

Palecek, a line that Onecoast represents on the road in the region, is a new line in the showroom. The company felt that it was important to have a presence in Vegas, as it is a growing market. Drawing customer interest were its striking carved wood wall decor pieces and smaller ceramic tile groupings for the wall.

Also in the Onecoast showroom, Homesource International drew quite a crowd to its display of lushly elegant bamboo fiber and fine cotton linens, bedding and towels.

Timeworks

Timeworks, known for its large decorative wall clocks, introduced a line of small greeting gift clocks featuring charming antique imagery. This is a new area for the company and it has been well received. The clocks come packaged in a gift box along with a gift tag to attach a special message to the clock.

Ho! Ho! For the Holidays

Kissing Krystal from Transpac Imports

Up on the holiday and floral floor of the Building C, Transpac Imports was doing a brisk business in its Kissing Krystals ornaments. They have been generating a lot of interest at all the recent markets. These attractive ornaments make a beautiful massed arrangement, but are striking alone as well. They consist of a cluster of faux mistletoe with a large light-reflecting crystal drop. Transpac also has a fall harvest version done in fall berries with crystal, too.

Designs Combined decorative holiday mice

Designs Combined holiday mice

In the Designs Combined showroom, it was groupings of small decorative holiday mice that were stirring buyer interest — even though these creatures were not supposed to be stirring according to the Clement C. Moore’s popular holiday poem, "A Visit from St. Nick"!

Sullivans

Sullivans was doing more business in its holiday line than in spring permanent botanicals. They felt that this was a good sign that customers were looking ahead rather than focusing on the short term. The faux florals though were really a fresh breath of spring! What was even more surprising was that among their customers this market were a number of florists; being so close to Valentine’s Day, they didn’t think that any florists would be away from their shops!

Raz Imports has a large showroom space that transitions the visitor through the seasons of seasonal decor—from Christmas to spring to summer garden to Halloween and harvest.

In the temporaries, the Christopher Radko booth was attracting a lot of interest. The company introduced a number of new ornaments to complement its established pieces.

Time Out to Talk
A number of market attendees from all segments of the gift industry took time out from their busy schedules to particpate in a roundtable discussion hosted by World Market Center and Gifts & Decorative Accessories. The discussion centered around the timely issue of survival during these difficult times and the discourse was lively and educational for all who attended. Gifts & Decorative Accessories will share highlights of the roundtable in an upcoming issue of the magazine.

The next Las Vegas Market is scheduled for September 14–17 at World Market Center.

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