Las Vegas Market announced today that the just-concluded Summer Market registered attendance gains, with overall attendance up 8% over last Summer Market, and gift buyer attendance up 28% specifically. The Summer 2016 edition also showcased the largest-ever number of resources in the Market’s 10-year history, with exhibitor participation topping 3,100 for the first time, including a record 500 temporary exhibits. The Summer Las Vegas Market ran from July 31-August 4, 2016.

“Summer Las Vegas Market was epic,” said Bob Maricich, CEO of International Market Centers, “Punctuated by unprecedented attendance, order-writing and new resources, we are continuing to deliver on our promise to create the leading furniture, home décor and gift destination in the western United States.”

While there were year-over-year gains in the market’s three product categories (furniture, home décor and gift), attendance growth increased 28% over last year’s Summer Market. The increasing home décor category also registered attendance gains of 4% and the mature furniture segment drew 3% more buyers than last year’s event.

The largest numbers of attendees came from California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Utah. International participation continued to be strong, with 73 countries represented; the largest number of attendees from outside of the U.S. came from Canada, Mexico, China, Japan and Panama.

The Summer market had 118,500-square-feet of new and expanded showroom space representing 66 new and expanding resources. These gains represented all of the Market’s core categories – with new and expanding showrooms adding 70,000-square-feet of furniture resources, 21,500-square-feet of home décor resources and 27,000-square-feet of gift resources – as well as record-breaking numbers of casual and outdoor resources and the largest-ever number of temporary exhibitors in the Market’s history.

Drew Sweeney, Vice President, Sales and Marketing of La-z-Boy Casegoods, said “This is our first Las Vegas Market and it’s been very good. Our traffic has been better than I expected, our order writing has been better than I expected, and we picked-up eight or nine new west coast accounts that we would not have opened had we not been showing here in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is definitely a west coast market and I am very, very pleased.”

Bob Ulrich, Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Currey & Company said, “We are very pleased to be back in Las Vegas. We are seeing lots of our regular customers we’ve not seen because they are not travelling to other markets where we show. Las Vegas offers us an opportunity to connect with customers representing a mix of furniture stores, designers and gift shops. To develop more business in the West Coast, we have to be here. This showroom signals our long-term support for the western region of USA and further presentation of our product.”

The Pavilions at Las Vegas Market registered a 212% increase in buyer traffic since its debut one year ago. Margo Pyne, Wholesale Merchandising Manager for The Grommet said, “The show has grown exponentially since we started exhibiting. The traffic, the summer market orders and the excitement – they are all going up and it is refreshing to see it grow! We’ve seen a decent amount of old faces and tons of new ones. We are seeing buyers are from Arizona, California and Washington primarily, as well as customers that don’t always get to markets on the east coast.”

Retailer Doug Sanicola, Owner/Buyer, Outdoor Elegance Patio Design Center, added, “This market is new, crisp, and a lot of fun compared to other shows. It is extremely important to the west coast. As Co-chairman of ICFA (International Casual Furnishings Association), I see a lot of markets, and it’s important that manufacturers and retailers, especially from the West, attend this show.”

(Source: giftsanddec.com)