Dallas Market Center Announces Unprecedented January Shows

February 5, 2019  by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry   

More buyers representing categories including gift, home décor, lighting, holiday/floral, and fashion attended the Dallas January shows, serving as a signal of the health of retail and interior design as well as the strength of Dallas as an order-writing marketplace across all major product segments.

“This was quite simply the best January in recent memory,” said Cindy Morris, president and CEO at Dallas Market Center. “We experienced gains across every category of business but more importantly our exhibitors in every neighborhood reported steady, deep order writing with many of them noting unprecedented sales numbers and new accounts.”

“Our opening energy and traffic continued from one week to the next as we welcomed a second wave of buyers for our apparel and accessories markets,” continued Morris. “We are extremely pleased with this exceptional month of business as we move forward into February and dynamic daily business for many showrooms.”

The economy and the retail sector in the Central U.S., Dallas Market Center’s main trading territory, remain strong, anchored by positive reports in the state of Texas. According to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released this week, Dallas-Fort Worth led the nation in job growth in 2018, followed by Houston in third place. Taken together, the two metropolitan areas added nearly 225,000 jobs. In addition, more than 1000 new residents per day are moving to the state, supporting housing and services including retail and interior design and driving business inside Dallas Market Center.

Inside the gift neighborhoods of the World Trade Center and Trade Mart, retailers attending the recent markets discovered more new resources and exhibitors noted the market success.

“Each market RoadRunners continues to see healthy increases in our business. We are thrilled with the growth we are seeing in this market segment especially with the growth of retailers outside the Central U.S.," said Tosha Pearson, RoadRunners.

“We will beat our best-ever market from last January, and we are thankful for the customers that packed our showroom to see 15 new brands. We had steady order writing from the moment we opened through the Apparel & Accessories show,” said Randa Crisler, Portico.

For home décor showrooms serving retailers and interior designers, the impressive results were evident.

“Zuo saw increased traffic with more new accounts than previous Dallas Markets. We also noticed a significant uptake in both the quality of luxury designers and hospitality companies. Finally, we love the work DMC has been doing with displays, marketing, and events -- we saw and felt new energy which helped to invigorate the traffic and excite attendees,” said Luis Ruesga, CEO of Zuo.

“We had a steady flow of traffic, well attended events and our new products, along with our total assortment of accessories was very well received,” said Satya Tiwari, president, Surya

Lightovation—Dallas International Lighting Show welcomed more retailers including a 22 percent  gain in new buyers attending from the U.S.

“The Dallas space is a good investment for our brand, and why we’ve expanded is because all the customers twice a year come together here,” said Tony Zitoli, Eurofase

“The improving economy we felt throughout 2018 brought strong foot traffic to January Lightovation. Lighting buyers were rewarded with an abundance of new product offerings. We were thrilled with the responses to our latest offerings of fashion, technology, and innovative programming for the ever-changing environment,” said Rick Wiedemer, Hinkley Lighting.

During January markets Dallas Market Center debuted more than 50 new and expanding showrooms including established brands and hot start-ups in home, gift, lighting and holiday/floral. In addition, more than 40 partnerships were announced with retail buying groups, trade groups and associations participating in the January shows. Finally, the 30^th annual ARTS Awards honored leaders in the home décor industry at a gala event attended by more than 600 guests.