Tupelo buyers eager to order
By Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, February 23, 2004
TUPELO, Miss. — TUPELO, Miss. — Organizers of the Tupelo Furniture Market tout Wednesday as the "unofficial opening day" of the semiannual show, and it was obvious last week that buyers took them at their word.
Several showrooms said Wednesday traffic was equal to, or greater than, the official opening day on Thursday. And since most buyers seemed eager to place orders, no one was complaining.
"Any word that means 'great' describes our traffic," said Lee Scott, sales manager at case goods producer Harden Furniture. "This may be our best Tupelo market ever."
Some showrooms even reported brisk traffic as early as Tuesday. "We had planned to hold our sales meeting that day, but had to push it back because of the amount of traffic we had," said Scott Cohen, Eastern regional sales manager for Coaster. "Tuesday was like a full market day."
Cohen and several other executives said buyers were generally upbeat about recent business, and most were predicting a brisk first half of 2004.
"We're ready for it to bust out. It's just a matter of when it's going to happen," said Gene Gathagan, vice president of sales at Brooks Furniture, a producer of glider rockers and case goods.
Although retailers were clearly in a buying mode, producers said many continue to be a bit cautious about inventories, since several previous apparent rebounds in business have quickly faded.
"It's looking a lot better than a few months ago. Business has definitely picked up," said Ben Mayo, product development manager at upholstery producer Mayo Furniture. "We're kind of holding our breath (to see if the uptick sustains itself)."
Herb Hester, president of Caye Home Furnishings, said his company, which makes the Stratford, Stratolounger and Simmons upholstery brands, has had strong business since last summer.
"I almost hate to say that because I might jinx us," Hester quipped.
Two manufacturers reported good markets for the second week in a row. United Furniture Inds. and The Steve Silver Co. came to Tupelo after a strong week at the Furniture Smart buying group show in New Orleans.
Microfiber and leather upholstery sold well both in New Orleans and in Tupelo for United. For Steve Silver, Tupelo continued to be a good order-writing market, and company officials said they opened 15 accounts during their first Furniture Smart show.
Both companies saw retailers in Tupelo as early as Tuesday.
"We're on track to have our best market ever," said Jay Quimby, United's national sales manager. "The response to our new products has been tremendous."
Harry Lo, CEO of case goods and occasional furniture importer Master Design, said dealers here were very enthusiastic about recent changes in the company's product line and marketing efforts.
"Tupelo, which has been the culmination of a total re-imaging of our company, was very strong," said Lo.
| Acknowledgements | ||
| Editor in Chief Ray Allegrezza, Leather Editor Joan Gunin and Staff Writer Jeff Linville contributed to this story. | ||
