Beds bounce in Las Vegas
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, February 11, 2008
Las Vegas — Metal bed vendors here enjoyed a brisk Las Vegas Market two weeks ago, thanks to a steady stream of buyers looking for new styles in the category.
Vendors offered products that spanned a vast array of price points and designs.
Fashion Bed Group received strong reaction to three new transitional models priced to retail from $399 to $599, as well as two offerings above and below that range. Buyers responded to the $799-retail Baroque, an old world-style bed with heavy castings, decorative siderails and heavy square posts, and to two new beds priced to retail at $199, on special through February.
Early buyer attendance was the strongest since the first Las Vegas Market in July 2005, said Rob Woods, president of the consumer products group of Leggett & Platt, which includes Fashion Bed Group. Order writing was also strong, Woods said.
"We saw a lot of people at the first market, but didn't write a lot of business," Woods said. "This is a combination of the two."
Amisco received strong response on three new metal beds — the traditional Amina, retailing at $599 to $699, the transitional Natasha at $699 to $799, and the traditional brass Bianca at $599.
The styles were a departure from the company's more recent contemporary frames. They also signal the company's ability to sharpen its price points. Previous traditional models fell within the $899 to $999 price range, said Mark Price, vice president of sales for the United States.
Wesley Allen showed a number of top sellers and got strong response on its $1,800 Laurel bed with a leaf motif and its ornate $1,999 New Orleans daybed, which had decorative side rails with a pattern similar to castings on balconies in New Orleans' French Quarter.
Reaction was also strong on the $799 Sunset, a more contemporary model shown in a natural rust finish.
"(With this bed) people can get the Wesley Allen aesthetic but they don't have to pay $1,299," said Wesley Sawan, director of private branding. "It's sort of entry level for us."
Other metal bed vendors at the market included Broyhill, which had a metal bed on display in its Enchantment collection. Metropolitan Designs also showed a line of high-end beds at its MGM showroom.
Powell and Coaster had metal beds in their youth collections.
