This year’s Manchester Furniture Show has reported an attendance of 120 exhibitors and almost 4850 visitors, a small increase on last year’s visitor attendance.

Exhibitors recorded good results from the show, and for many sales figures were up on last year’s event – indeed, organizer Furniture Fairs reports that re-bookings are the best it has seen for several years.

Tom Savidge from Carlton Furniture says: “I chose this year’s Manchester Show to launch my new business - Vintage Sofa Company, the results exceeded my expectations. We have already booked for next year.”

Karl Walker from Lebus comments: “This was our first time showing at Manchester Central, having previously chosen to show in local hotels for the past 15 years. The show exceeded our most optimistic forecasts both in terms of the level of business taken at the show and the ease of set up and breakdown. We are committed to future Manchester shows.”

New exhibitor Nichola Bell from Westbridge adds: “We chose to exhibit at the Manchester Show for the first time this year. Our main aim was to find the right arena to launch our new products, giving us exposure to customers who don’t normally visit our stands at other shows. We enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, giving us time to spend with our customers, and the well-organised running of the show. The results we have from the show have surpassed our expectations and we are pleased with our decision to show at Manchester this year.”

Barry Webb from Furniture Origins agrees: “Once again the Manchester Furniture Show gave us a fantastic platform to meet new and existing customers, enabling us to achieve new distributions on all our new cabinet ranges.”

Finally, Rowico’s Nick Tuck comments: “We first launched the UK division of Rowico at Manchester in 2011 to great success and in a troubled market. This year’s show was for us another winner and will help cement our best year to date. I have secured space at Manchester Furniture Show in 2015 to follow our presence in hall 1 at the January Furniture Show. It is my view that these people know how the trade works better than any other organizer. It is very much to our benefit that we now have two shows from the same team - allowing us to plan the year with greater certainty.”

Next year’s Manchester Furniture Show will take place from 19th to 21st July and will run for just three days. See the September issue of Furniture News magazine for a full report.