World Market Center Moves February Dates
Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 5/15/2008 2:39:00 PM
The World Market Center is moving the dates of its Las Vegas Market – Winter to a later time frame in 2009. The 2007 and 2008 winter editions of the semiannual home furnishings event opened during the last week in January. The next installment is scheduled Feb. 9-13.
In previous years, permanent showrooms and temporary pavilions on the Market Center campus had not been large enough to accommodate all Market exhibitors, forcing it to contract with outside exhibition facilities for overflow exhibits. The new Building C will open in July, adding 2.1 million square feet to the nearly 3 million sq. ft. in Buildings A and B. Now, officials said, they can fit all their exhibitors on site, giving them more latitude to dictate dates.
Market Center President and CEO Robert Maricich said, “We identified Feb. 9 to 13 as an ideal time to host winter 2009 Las Vegas Market.”
Dana Andrew, vice president of marketing for the Market Center, explained that home furnishings manufacturers have historically introduced new products in early spring and early fall to coincide with peak retail sales periods.
“Our new dates better align with that pattern,” Andrew said. “Also, for many of our customers with global supply chains, we need to be sensitive to dates that allow new product shown at our market to make its way to retail or design showrooms during those traditional periods.”
She added that the travel schedules of international attendees – a growing contingent at the Market – were taken into consideration. The new dates reflect an attempt to minimize conflicts with related industry shows such as Heimtextil, in Frankfurt, Germany; Domotex (Hannover, Germany); IMM (Cologne, Germany); TFS (Birmingham, U.K.); Maison + Objet (Paris); the Toronto Gift Fair; and Macef Home Show (Milan, Italy).
The Market Center’s biggest domestic competitor, the High Point Market in North Carolina, will produce its spring tradeshows the last week or two of March for the foreseeable future, according to dates reported to Tradeshow Week research. The next spring High Point Market is March 31-April 6.
The new winter dates give World Market Center management one other advantage: proximity to Hanley Wood Exhibitions’ floor coverings show Surfaces, scheduled Feb. 3-5.
Andrew estimated that approximately 12 percent of buyers attending the Las Vegas Market are shopping for area rugs and floor coverings. She added, however, that the Market Center had “no joint plans” with Hanley Wood to cross-market the two companies’ respective shows.
