Mini-Market Lights Up High Point Showrooms

January 15, 2007  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Casual Dining on January 2007 High Point’s furniture showrooms, normally dark between October and April, sprang to life Monday as the first wave of more than 500 retailers arrived for Lifestyle’s Forbidden City Furniture Show.

Group President Greg Noe expects the three-day event to top the first edition of the show, which attracted retailers from about 400 stores a year ago. He said more than 400 stores have registered for this week’s event, and many retailers are bringing larger buying teams.

“The showroom has been busy the whole day. It’s almost chaos because it’s so crowded,” he said Monday at a Lifestyle-sponsored dinner event where scores of tables were filled by buyers from across the country.

During the day, many of those retailers fanned out across High Point to visit more than 60 other showrooms that have opened in hopes of attracting some of the dealers visiting Lifestyle. Noe said many of the retailers he talked to complained of continued weak sales, and, as a result, most are focused on promotional items and strong-selling categories. He said Lifestyle is introducing more than 20 casual dining groups for the event, along with a dozen new bedrooms and upholstery collection.