High Point Opens Steady, But Cautious
By Staff -- Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 10/2/2007 12:48:00 PM
High Point, NC — The navigational axiom “steady as she goes” was the most apt description of the market’s opening day yesterday as cautious retailers descended upon exhibitors who were anxious about business conditions. Exhibitors described showroom traffic as light to moderate, and noted that many buyers were reluctant to make sizable commitments to add to already bloated inventories.
Exhibitors said major accounts, including most of the industry’s Top 100 stores, were out in force, as usual, but many of those stores would be wrapping up their shopping by Wednesday, a development that could further reduce crowds in elevators and on downtown sidewalks.
Absent, however, was the crush of buyers and other market visitors that often marked the High Point show when it officially started on Thursdays — a schedule that was used for more than three decades, until 2006. Exhibitors said the Monday-through-Sunday schedule apparently has made it less urgent for buyers to rush to showrooms as soon as the opening bell rang.
Also absent on opening day were the complaints about the market’s schedule — a topic that dominated the spring market, which was the first to begin in March. The complaints eventually prompted the High Point Market Authority to revert to a traditional April and October schedule.
Most showrooms outside the core downtown area reported they were busy over the weekend, and some said they saw buyers as early as Friday.
[This story was reported by Larry Thomas, Jeff Linville, Thomas Russell and Clint Engel, editors with Furniture Today, a sister publication of Gifts & Decorative Accessories.]
