News-Record.com

I can't draw any big conclusions about this week's furniture market in High Point, having only spent a few hours nosing around this afternoon. With the Monday-Sunday event officially ending tomorrow, most folks already had gone home.

One of the biggest crowds I noticed was at the transportation terminal, where suitcase-toting people were waiting to catch the free rides to the Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham airports.

That points to one of the real positives you can say about High Point Market: It's finally providing some excellent services. Visitors can get a bus, van or trolley to take them just about anywhere they need to go for free. The system really seems to work. You can even fish a free soft drink out of a barrel while you're waiting for your bus.

There are information kiosks, coupons for this or that, police officers everywhere, people watching to make sure marketgoers aren't run over by all the buses and other visitor-friendly features. There was live entertainment every evening. Acts like Hall & Oates aren't the biggest names in show business, but I heard they put on a good show that was well attended.

The downside for this market was overall attendance, which was said to have dipped from last year. How much is a guess right now. The market authority should release registration numbers in a week or two but that doesn't tell you how many people actually visit all the showroom buildings. Badges are scanned at some, not at others.

Why the drop? A lot of factors can be blamed: soft business in general; the impact of a strong Las Vegas market in late January; the earlier market here, moved up from mid-April; the Monday-Sunday schedule, shifted from Thursday-Wednesday (some buyers reportedly liked having a weekend in the middle of market); consolidation in the retail sector, with big players squeezing out smaller operations.

But was this market successful from a business standpoint? I'll leave it for others to say. There are always winners and losers, but I rarely ever hear more than guesswork and anecdotal evidence. The business side of market isn't something that lends itself to measurement. It doesn't necessarily relate to how many people attend the market, because a few buyers can place big orders. So we can hope the business impact of this market was better than its attendance might indicate.

Moving forward, market organizers have to continue improving services and entertainment, work harder to encourage more reasonable hotel rates, step up promotion and marketing, and take a long, careful look at the schedule.

High Point is a competition with a relentless and determined rival in Las Vegas, but it still has a lot in its favor. Its 12 million square feet of showrooms hold the most complete and creative collection of furniture and accessories on display anywhere in the world. Visitors are never far from food and drink, or friendly people offering hospitality and answers to questions. It's an amazing show and a tremendous asset.

So, maybe I can draw one big conclusion after all. The market is worth every effort High Point, the Triad and North Carolina can muster to keep it the industry leader.