Summer Markets Cover the Bases for Regional Buying

Inside Dallas Market Center

The Dallas Total Home & Gift Market kicks off the season of summer markets June 24 through 30. Located at the Dallas Market Center, which consists of four buildings spanning over 5 million square feet, the market is a combination of permanent showrooms and temporary exhibitors. Within the market, a number of submarkets will take place concurrently to focus on different categories. Submarkets include the Holiday & Home Expo, Hospitality & Contract Design Show, Dallas Temp Show, KidsWorld Market, International Folk Art Market Collection and the American Made Show.

The American Made Show is new to Dallas this year and will feature thousands of products in more than 50 different product groups, all made in the United States or Canada. In addition to being American made, the products featured are also locally and responsibly produced items that are sustainably manufactured by studio artists.

Also notable at the Dallas Total Home & Gift Market this year will be a presentation by makeover television personality Libby Langdon. Langdon is the creative force behind New York City-based design firm, Libby Interiors, Inc. She also has several collections of branded home furnishings and is author of House Beautiful magazine’s monthly column “Libby’s Makeover” and the book “Libby Langdon’s Small Space Solutions.” Langdon will present on Friday, June 26 at noon followed by a meet and greet in the World Trade Center (WTC) Hall of Nations. The event is open to all market attendees.

Fusionbrands will be in attendance for the company’s third showing in Dallas. Brand Manager Debra Matt says the show is valuable because of its regional location. “What we like about the summer shows is that you get local representation,” says Matt. “We really get excited. Because it’s regional, you get more stores in that area that come in and maybe they weren’t able to attend Germany or Chicago. They just want to keep things close and they just hit one of these summer shows. That’s why we like having a presence there, for people that can’t attend the big shows, or since it is so big and they might miss something, they can go back and see the new products that were offered.”

In Dallas, Fusionbrands is hosted within the Source One Marketing showroom. The company also exhibits at The Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market taking place at AmericasMart, and is hosted within a permanent showroom there as well, giving buyers a chance to stop by and touch base with reps not only during market times but throughout the year.

The Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market will take place from July 7 through 14. The week long market event offers buyers a chance to browse AmericasMart’s 11 permanent merchandise categories: Home Accents/Fine Linens, Furniture, Rugs, Holiday & Floral/Home Décor, The Gardens®, General & Specialty Gift, Gourmet & Housewares, Living & Entertaining: Gifts, Tabletop & Accessories, Home Accents & Gifts, Apparel and Children’s World. In addition to this, Temporaries will run Thursday, July 9 to Monday, July 13, and The Atlanta International Rug Market® takes place from Wednesday, July 8 to Saturday, July 11.

Focal points of the July lineup in Atlanta include the continuing advancement of AmericasMart’s design-driven product resources, with new exhibitors joining the Building 1 Floor 15 mix following its January 2015 debut, and extensive new lines in the HOME and RUG collections. The growth of specialized collections in AmericasMart’s expansive GIFT offerings, including Made in America products, and baby and children’s merchandise featuring toys, apparel and accessories, is also notable along with the thousands of lines showcased in 35 TEMPORARY collections including all of AmericasMart’s signature LUXE categories – HD Home, HIGH DESIGN LUXE, Tabletop LUXE, Gourmet LUXE and Gardens LUXE – showcasing must-have luxury goods.

The centerpiece of the July Market is the ICON HONORS 2015. which celebrates professional achievements of home and gift retailers, manufacturers, sales agents and service providers. The celebration will feature a performance by Daryl Hall & John Oates.

Harold Import Co. has showcased products at AmericasMart in the Dugan-Bliss & Associates Showroom for over 20 years now and has also had its own HIC, Harold Import Co. space for around six years now. “Because Atlanta has become a national show, with all of the housewares and gift resources represented in building, it is a great draw for visitors,” says Allyn Tieborg, Harold Import Company Regional Sales Manager and Show Coordinator. “For us, our showroom allows us to have product available all year-round, but also enables us to have nearly every item on display and to house them continually in a permanent space. What I enjoy most about Atlanta – and I have been coming here twice a year for many years – is the continuity of it all. I see people I have worked with consistently over the years. And, because it has transformed from a regional to a national show, this is one of HIC’s most important shows. We consistently conduct business while we are here. Of course, I like writing orders, but we also seeing people consistently market after market.”

Las Vegas Market

The Summer 2015 Las Vegas Market will take place August 2 through 6. The market this year celebrates a 10 year anniversary and also the launch of the new C11 permanent showroom floor. The launch of C11 marks the third and final phase of Las Vegas Market’s strategic growth plan to position itself as the leading buying platform for furniture, home décor and gifts in the western United States. The new C11 will house a permanent showroom floor for gourmet housewares, tabletop and specialty food.

The launch is anchored by two leading multi-line sales agencies – Muir Sales and The Kitchen Source – that bring a number of leading gourmet housewares lines to the new floor. Muir Sales, representing Andreas, Vitamix, and several others to be announced soon, has confirmed its new 2,126-square-foot location; and The Kitchen Source, representing Enclume Pot Racks & Storage, Hammer Stahl Cookware and Cutlery, Innova Click Clack Storage Systems and Strahl Polycarb Drinkware, JK Adams, Le Souk Ceramique, RSVP International and Tovolo, has confirmed its new 1,520-square-foot location.

Knack3 will also participate in the launch by taking a 1,579-square-foot permanent space. It is an upgrade from the previous temporary space the company has occupied at two other markets in Las Vegas and also a key component to the company’s marketing. “We launched to the independent market three years ago and we started out at the Atlanta AmericasMart first. We had such a successful run there and … we realized that the Las Vegas Market could tap into more West Coast retailers,” says Sandra Ciganic-Mckinney, Knack3 Director of Design and Product Development. “We knew that there were many West Coast retailers that were not going to Atlanta … we decided on the Las Vegas Market because we heard it was an up and coming market to go to. Our biggest marketing budget has been toward shows and we have a lot of success with that.”

In addition to the C11 opening, highlights of the upcoming Summer Market Las Vegas include a celebration of the Market’s 10 year anniversary; the continuing growth of C5, another new permanent showroom floor for boutique home décor, high-end home textiles and accessories; the premier of the casual furniture launch at Las Vegas Market, with 250,000 square feet of permanent showrooms and temporary exhibit space on C12 and C13; and the repositioning and reimagining of the Market’s temporary exhibits as The Pavilions at Las Vegas Market, a dramatic, freestanding, climate controlled temporary trades how space showcasing some 90,000 net square feet of innovative and emerging home décor resources.

This story was originally published in the June 2015 issue of Kitchenware News, a publication of Oser Communications Group.