Summer Las Vegas Market which runs through July 31, 2014 – welcomed a growing number of buyers from an increasingly diverse range of U.S. regions and countries, drawn by the Market’s dramatically expanding and enriched furniture, gift and home décor resources.
"Las Vegas Market is bigger and better than it has ever been before,” said Robert Maricich, chief executive officer of International Market Centers. “Our accelerated resource growth, coupled with a striking increase in better goods across all categories of merchandise, has positioned Las Vegas as the leading furniture, home decor and gift destination in the western United States.”
"Opening day was a good day and it felt good to open our doors. We were ready and we have huge expectations for Las Vegas,” said Adriana Mello of Keena, a new showroom tenant within C10’s growing Lifestyle Collection. “It feels like a national market. It is a nice expansion for our buyer base and is a larger platform for our vendors. We are excited to be part of this market and are very committed to it.”
In synch with resource growth, Las Vegas Market also has increased the overall quality of offerings – from furniture and home decor to gift and lifestyle – presented at Market. With scores of new leading brands and hundreds of new upper-end lines presented across all categories, Las Vegas Market has created a more vibrant and synergistic cross-category shopping experience for retailers and interior designers alike.
Retailer Keith Koenig of South Florida-based City Furniture, enthused, “This is the best Las Vegas Market we have ever attended. There are a lot of new Market introductions and we are shopping for furniture and other categories like accessories, rugs, wall décor and outdoor. Seeing every category under one roof makes the most use of our time.”
Overall Market pre-registrations were running 7% ahead of Winter 2014 and 32% ahead of Summer 2013.The ongoing expansion of better resources in permanent showrooms and temporary exhibits also has fueled record growth in designer pre-registrations, which surpassed last summer by 133%. Additionally, overall pre-registration growth in key target regions – with 33% gains from the TOLA region (Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas), 20% gains from the Midwest and 18% gains from the West – foretells expected overall increases in market attendance from these areas.
Maricich summed up the positive opening day atmosphere, saying, “We’re creating a compelling environment to make buyers come. We’ve increased the quantity of resources and we’ve enriched the quality of resources, and the industry has responded.”
