ATLANTA — AmericasMart Building 1 is marking its 50th anniversary with the premiere of 28 new exhibitors at this month's trade shows here, plus 22 expanded showrooms.
The building will host the Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market Jan. 12-19 (temporaries Jan. 14-18) and the Atlanta International Area Rug Market Jan. 13-16 (temporaries Jan. 14-16).

The new and expanded showrooms, covering 120,000 square feet, will give January market buyers the largest collection of furniture, home accents, holiday/floral and home décor, fine linens, home textiles and area rug product since Building 1's 1961 opening, officials said.

"For 50 years, Building 1, first known as the Merchandise Mart, has stood strong as a destination for retailers from around the globe," said Dave Savula, executive vice president of leasing for AmericasMart. "Today, it stands as the destination for the world's leading home product, enhanced by our new and existing exhibitor partners. Our exhibitors continue to help reinforce AmericasMart as the home for a comprehensive and complete collection of home product."

All 50 new and expanded exhibitors will celebrate with ribbon cutting ceremonies on Thursday and Friday, Jan. 13 and 14.

The new companies debuting in AmericasMart's Building 1 are:

In the Area Rug product center (floors 3-6)
• World Rug Gallery

• Spring Air Mattress

• Tufan Rugs

In the Home Accents and Fine Linens product center (floors 9 and 10)

• Callisto Home & Gerry Nichol Co.

• Aesthetic Movement

• Europe 2 You

• The Elegant Earth

• A Homestead Shoppe

• K&K Tabletops

In the Home Furnishings and Accents product center (floors 11-14)
• Peel & Co.
• Container Marketing
• Lamp Works
• Ibolili
• Kammy & Co.
• Classic Concepts
• The Rug Market America
• Jody's Imports
• Royola Pacific Designs
• FDV Artfolio

• D&W Silks

In the Holiday/Floral and Home Décor product center (floors 16-20)

• Norben Imports

• Seasons Direct Imports

• Appelman / Schauben presents Willow Group

• D. Stevens

• Egyptian Museum

• Appleman / Schauben presents TAG

• Knud Nielsen

• Whitehurst Imports

The 22 home exhibitors expanding for the January market and 2011 are:

• LR Resources

• Saro Trading Co.

• Zentique

• Seasons Designs

• Accent Décor

• Galt International

• Neumantree

• Karen Didion

• Bliss Studio

• Capa Imports

• Old South Lamps & Accents

• Hill's Imports

• Picapot

• Santa's Own

• KD Vintage

• HomeMax Imports

• Four Hands

• MSM 4 Imports

• Impressive Enterprises

• Annalee Dolls

• Catherine Lillywhite's

• K&K Interiors