Gold Bond Takes Pass on Vegas

January 24, 2012  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on January 25, 2012

Gold Bond Mattress will not renew its lease at World Market Center Las Vegas, focusing instead on High Point Furniture Market and personal visits to retailers.

Company executives attend the upcoming Winter Las Vegas Furniture Market for informal meetings with dealers in attendance.
 
"The economy is having an affect on the independent dealers who make up the vast majority of our customer base," said Hartford, Conn.-based Gold Bond's president, Robert Naboicheck. "Over the past few markets, we have seen a precipitous decline in independent dealers attending the shows. We have made a hard decision to invest our dollars in High Point instead of Las Vegas, where we actually have seen an increase in traffic and business over the past few years."

Naboicheck said for Gold Bond€™s larger clients, Las Vegas has really become a "day and a half to two day" market, which limited the time they can spend at each manufacturer's showroom. Naboicheck added that the company also was finding increased success from a program it started two years ago, in which it takes a truck on the road and meets directly with dealers in personalized visits more geared to each dealer€™s needs.

"As basic as this sounds, we load a truck up with product, set a route and go town to townwith pre-arranged meetings," he said. "We can pick specific product off the truck, set it up for the retailer, and because we are at their location, it is far more convenient for them to allocate time to us. We had added many new clients as a result of this program and are looking to increase our resources in this area.€"

Gold Bond also will fly customers to its Connecticut showroom.

Gold Bond currently ships to 40 states and five countries, and its products are available at more than 500 retail showrooms.