High Point Premarket off to good start
Furniture suppliers reported a strong opening to this week’s Premarket here and are hopeful that the response to new product bodes well for the April High Point Market.
(Editor: Leona)
Furniture suppliers reported a strong opening to this week’s Premarket here and are hopeful that the response to new product bodes well for the April High Point Market.
Premarket, which continues today, features about two dozen sponsoring case goods and upholstery suppliers, and more than 40 non-sponsoring exhibitors who have also opened their doors. Dealers here this week are previewing High Point introductions, giving them time to make advance buying decisions and also lock up distribution on new collections.
Bernhardt Furniture is showing two new whole home collections, each featuring about 55 pieces. Antiquarian is a rustic traditional collection made with white oak veneers and solids and featuring key pieces available in low-sheen wheat and tobacco leaf finishes. The collection also features mixed media elements including antiqued mirrors, seeded glass and burnished brass door fronts.
The second collection, Criteria, has more contemporary forms with traditional design influences. It is made with ash veneers, with key pieces in heather gray and pale ivory finishes, and featuring stainless steel inlays on drawer fronts and table tops as well as faux lizard skin accents. A compass blue accent finish is available on eight pieces, adding a splash of color to the group.
Bernhardt also is showing new accent, bedroom and dining pieces in its Interiors collection.
Thomasville Furniture is offering two new whole home collections, including Avenue A, a 30-piece transitional scaled-down group aimed at both younger consumers and older consumers looking to downsize. Made with walnut veneers in a dark walnut finish, it incorporates mixed media elements such as metal legs on dining tables and bunching curios with glass doors.
An Italian traditional collection called Casa Veneto features slightly larger scale pieces made with pecan veneers in two main finishes, a dark brown and a weathered gray.
Hooker Furniture has one of the largest introductions at market, featuring five new whole home collections. Among them are Vintage West and True Vintage, two 50-plus piece collections in low sheen finishes, and featuring pieces that can be mixed in the same home. The company had about 80% of its product wood mix here for market, which allowed it to show a variety of styles, from the Western American-inspired forms in Vintage West to the island and Campaign-inspired Cinnamon Bay, which features rustic hickory veneers in a burnished chestnut finish and featuring a second black painted accent finish.
The company worked overtime to get its showroom set up because of winter weather conditions that closed the New York port on Thursday, the day its samples were to be unloaded. The company shipped there planning to avoid backups on the West Coast. But the winter storm delay left a tight deadline: Its goods didn’t get unloaded until a half hour before the close of business at the port early Friday evening.
The last of its samples finally arrived in Martinsville, Va., early Saturday afternoon, which required a full team working through the weekend to get the showroom in order.
Not everyone was as successful getting samples to market. Fairmont Designs hoped to have most of its new April High Point Market product, including five new whole home collections and three new bedrooms, here this week. But last minute changes meant to improve the product kept any of its case goods from arriving in time. Instead, it is mainly showing new upholstery. The company expects to have everything else here in two weeks.
While sister company Thomasville was 100% market ready, Broyhill reported that its wood product is still on the water. Thus it has no wood product to preview this week.
Riverside Furniture also had product en route, with some on the water, some still stuck in port and some diverted to other ports.
“We’re not as market ready as in the past,” said Fred Henjes, president, adding that it still has about 70% of the market mix here this week, which compares to a more typical 90%.
This includes pieces from two new whole home collections, the 35-piece, relaxed farmhouse inspired Modern Gatherings and the 45-piece Mirabelle, a casual, clean-lined, California-inspired lifestyle collection.
The company was pleased with initial response to its new product and said dealers have expressed mostly positive attitudes about business. The company had a good 2014 and is off to a strong start in 2015 with two good months of orders and shipments, said Mike Charlton, senior vice president of product development and merchandising.
Bassett Furniture, which is showing two new collections, the updated Louis Philippe Provence and the casual traditional Artisinal, said it had a strong first day at Premarket, with 40 accounts in the showroom by mid-afternoon. It was expecting to see 60 over the two days, officials said.
“Traffic is good,” said Bruce Cohenour, senior vice president of sales and merchandising, adding that the accounts included companies that Bassett is doing business with or looking to do business with.
He said both collections are expected to be in the warehouse May 1, allowing dealers to have them on their floors by Memorial Day weekend.
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