by Interviews at the fall event indicate that many are optimistic about prospects for this season’s introductions — if housing will just cooperate
HIGH POINT — Although overall traffic here may have fallen short of some expectations, executives appeared pleased with the October High Point Market and the opportunities it means for their companies and customers moving forward.
And while much of the jury is still out on some product introductions given the still-slow housing market, many we interviewed at the event said they are pleased with initial reaction to their new case goods and upholstery.
“It’s been a good market,” Ashley Furniture President and CEO Todd Wanek told Home News Now. “The people that are here are buying. The companies that are very successful and have a growth mindset are at market and they are trying to figure out how they grow their business. And they are looking for products that are really appealing. … People are looking for a lot of function and features and storytelling opportunities to enhance their floors and do things for consumers that not everybody can do.”
On that note, he said Ashley expanded its immersive seating line and also introduced coil seating in its stationary upholstery line. Expandable dining that increases table sizes to serve larger numbers of guests was another initiative that received strong early reaction as was a push to increase immersive sound and lighting in wood furniture.
“The industry is moving fast and there are more and more things that are happening with electronics,” he added, noting that these are ways to bring AI and the connected home experience into furniture. “We are in the early stages and we have to figure out what that looks like for the industry, but there are a lot of opportunities.”
At Ashley and others, the focus remained on strong product presentations, ranging from whole-home collections to expansive bedroom, dining and both motion and stationary upholstery.
Lifestyle Enterprise, for example, brought 12 new bedrooms to market, about half of which had companion dining sets. It also reshowed a similar number of inline groups, including some that are available in new finishes. Of the new sets, about half are more promotional, featuring paper laminates with four- to five-piece sets retailing around $999 while the step-up groups with elevated materials —including solid raintree wood — and finishes were priced up to around $1,999 to $2,199.
There also were standalone dining sets not part of a collection. The 12 total shown across the full line retailed from $499 to $1,499 for a table and four chairs.
New sofas, sectionals and lift chairs, plus occasional tables also were part of the presentation, rounding out the company’s whole-home mix.
Full-line resource Homelegance also had an aggressive introduction with 45 new bedrooms and some 80 sets in the good and better part of its upholstery line and 45 sets in the upper end of its upholstery line. Slightly more than half of the mix was in stationary and the rest motion, said Jamie Collins, executive vice president, adding that the company also leaned heavily into its dining mix, with some sets that are part of full collections that include bedroom, dining and occasional. He estimated that some 95% of its 100,000-square-foot showroom was either brand new, or just one market old.
“It’s a pretty heavy introduction for us,” Collins said. “We use High Point as our proving ground for new introductions. … There is always something coming in and going out. And when you bring out all this product you don’t expect it all to hit either. We may bring some back. Some made it and some we got great reaction to, but we may need another market to get some orders placed on it. It’s too early to read.”
He said the timing is right for such an aggressive launch, given that retailers want to be ready with new product that can sell as business rebounds.
“I think when business is slow — and let’s be honest, retail is not as robust as any of us would like as there are a lot of headwinds in the world — we see that our buyers and merchandisers are more focused on product,” he said. “Because when the water is low in the creek, the pebbles come to the surface. And they see the stuff that is not performing in a slower environment and they are looking to change. That is a great opportunity for anyone to refresh their floor and move into some new looks. The mood was very positive and there was not a lot of negativity. We had a great reaction to what we showed.”
Another 12,000 square feet of its space was dedicated to bestsellers. “For our retailers that want to know what we are already doing well with, along with a huge number of introductions, we also have the best of the best in the showroom.”
Some collections evoked a sense of nostalgia at resources such as Coaster, Four Hands, Craftmaster, Norwalk and Best in both fabrics and forms.
For example, Norwalk’s Camp Norwalk included multiple inline frames in vintage fabrics such as plaids, florals, stripes and other multicolor patterns.
“We’ve had a great reaction,” said Tim Newlin, president of Norwalk Furniture. “This really strikes a chord with everyone. It is like nostalgia coming into the present. Everyone had an uncle’s cabin or a place by the lake that their grandparents had. … This is taking all those vibes and creating new product with new fabrics, but replicating the vintage good feelings from everyone’s past.”
Coaster also offered a nod to the past with a themed gallery in the first floor Annex section of its showroom. It noted that the presentation focused on “vintage charm meeting modern style via rich wood tones, saturated colors, textural fabrics and organic curvy shapes.”
The mix also highlighted styles from the 1980s that consumers can mix and match among newer styles.
“Consumers are yearning for comfort,” said Crystal Nguyen, vice president of merchandise and strategic product planning at Coaster, noting that they welcome the opportunity to mix and match different styles and materials. “They are going to buy things they like and just put it all together.”
She added that even at lower price points, Coaster strives to create a sense of newness and freshness in the product mix.
“We ask what can we put back into it so we are able to give customers more bang for the buck,” she said of the materials, finishes and styling available throughout the line
Four Hands said it also received positive reaction to its new product mix including its 30th Anniversary Capsule collection along with additions to its licensed Amber Lewis x Four Hands and Thomas Bina lines.
“We have so much cool newness,” said Adam Dunn, senior vice president of design, noting that traffic was strong at market. “I am glad people are responding to it.”
That said, he noted that the company has a positive outlook for the balance of the year and heading into 2027.
“We are still involved in product development like normal and we haven’t slowed down new product lines,” he said. “We do believe that newness is the lifeblood of the industry. And if we are not bringing out new product to market, there is no reason for people to come back. I think as long as we are giving them a reason to come visit us, and to see all this cool stuff, they will keep coming back.”
Bassett Furniture said it was pleased not just with reaction to its new Heather Chadduck line and other indoor and outdoor furniture added to its mix, but also with its new showroom in Space M101 and M201 of the International Home Furnishings Center. It previously showed on the 12th floor of the Commerce Wing.
“This is the culmination of a couple of years of planning to move our showroom and find a place with more exposure for traffic,” said Rob Spilman Jr., chairman and chief executive officer, noting that the company is looking to attract designers and also provide its existing customer base an enhanced shopping experience.
“We know there were a lot of people not coming to our old showroom, and we thought if we could package it in a way that characterized where we are trying to take the company, we could generate some more traffic.”
He said the overall response was extremely positive to the product, the new location and the way the company redesigned the space with new windows.
“We wanted natural light,” he said. “These windows existed at one time, but somebody decided to block them up. … So we decided to knock out the cinder block and put in new window frames and we did it in the front and the back. We have good designers and thought if we could put in a whole new kind of setting, the whole halo effect would permeate the showroom and the brand. So in that regard, we felt like we had a very good market — the compliment meter has been very high.”
At market he said that while the company still had to follow up on commitments and orders, he was confident these would come through.
“Stay tuned — we all have been around long enough to know if market was good or bad and it was good.”
AICO execs told Home News Now they were pleased with High Point overall, despite a slight drop in traffic.
“Market traffic was off a bit, but the vast majority of customers in our showroom were upbeat and looking for innovative products that can help them grow their businesses,” said David Koehler, president, noting that “despite continued headwinds in home furnishings, High Point Market always creates opportunities. That is our focus: to help our customers be successful and grow.”
The company said it featured one of the largest upholstery introductions in its history with 50 new upholstery frames across a wide range of styles and price points. “Customer response was terrific,” Koehler said.
“Upholstery has been a strong growth engine for us the last few years and given that success, we will continue to lean into this category in a big way. The family room is a space where we see great opportunity to grow our share and to that point, we introduced a range of casual, relaxed styles that resonated well.”
It also introduced two new bedroom collections, Lisbon and Carmela. Here too, Koehler said, the response was very positive.
“Both are already bestselling collections that include upholstery, occasional and dining room pieces,” he said. “Our customers have expressed their desire for us to develop a bedroom for each, so adding them this market was a natural step. We also added two gorgeous new dining rooms, Nodali in a beautiful burl walnut, and Auro with a stunning African walnut veneer.”
Upper-end resources Sarreid Ltd. and Rock House Farm, which includes Century, Hickory Chair, Maitland-Smith, Highland House, Hancock & Moore and others, also said market was strong.
“We felt good about traffic,” said Alex Shuford III, chief executive officer of Rock House Farm. “The people that were there — retailers and designers were buying — and very rare was the conversation not positive about the last six to 12 months. There was obviously a lot of talk about AI and a lot of talk about the markets, but there was very little talk of tariffs and trade policy and very little talk about the elections. I think people were very hopeful that this stock market boom continues and that it continues to create a positive wealth effect that lifts us all up.”
Designer traffic, he noted, was particularly strong at Hickory Chair and Highland House while traffic was also strong, although more balanced among retailers and designers, at Hancock & Moore, Maitland-Smith and Jessica Charles, to name a few.
He also noted there was also more talk among middle-market companies wanting to trade up into the luxury furnishings segment.
“They want to put more upper end on the floor because they see that as a pocket of stability and strength,” he said. “That is probably what is driving our retail business being positive for the year as people are actually expanding that assortment as a percentage of their overall business.”
Sarreid Ltd. President and CEO Brad Cates also said the market was very strong.
“We had a little under 100 new products and had great reception with hard orders,” he said, adding that its showroom redesign also was very well received and that it will continue to expand its concept of the Sarreid Home even further for the April market.
Another focus is to continue to expand and refine its in-stock position for its bestsellers, while also balancing speed to market with its quality story.
“We are in the mid-80s low 90% in stock in our top 200 SKUs,” he said, noting that its recent purchase orders to its vendors were among the highest number it has ever delivered to these largely artisan workshops. “So our big concern is making sure our quality level stays where we want it to be. The nonstop message to the team of vendors is the importance of consistently good quality and being consistently on time. If they do that, the business will follow.”
For many, the big question is whether the housing market will cooperate heading into the new year. Should the market for new and existing homes remain slow amid rising interest rates, retailers could have to find creative ways to bring people through the door.
“The industry has a 65% correlation to housing starts,” noted Wanek of Ashley. “Meaning that if you look at our correlation to housing starts, which are pretty low right now, it has a massive effect when housing starts slow and interest rates go up. It does affect demand. We (as an industry) just have to be smart and have to pivot. You have to advertise, you have to market and you have to be in front of the consumer in every way you possibly can. And then when they come to your store, it’s got to be entertaining. It just can’t be a boring experience. You have to provide a great experience.”
