Sarreid launching 100 pieces at October High Point Market

Goal is to be “perpetually fresh, perpetually new, perpetually exciting,” says Brad Cates, president and CEO

Sarreid Ltd. is less dependent on furniture market cycles than it once was, rolling out new products throughout the year as containers arrive. But it still plans a significant introduction of more than 100 pieces during the High Point Market Oct. 22-26, including a rectangular version of its successful round Jupe-style dining tables.

“We want to be perpetually fresh, perpetually new, perpetually exciting,” says Brad Cates, president and chief executive officer of the Wilson, North Carolina-based furniture source. Buyers visiting the showroom will “see a little bit more transitional to even a slightly contemporary bent in some pieces,” he says. “But we’re not turning our back at all on our heritage of heirloom-quality antique reproductions on a grand scale.”

NEW AND NOW

With its fall introductions, Sarreid is continuing its effort to become a whole home resource for buyers and to create natural line extensions with new products.

“Case in point,” Cates says, “we had a great cocktail table, but we were missing the side table and the console, so we’ve added those. We’ve had a lot of pieces that have been in the pipeline for over a year, and they’re finally here.”

Sarreid is also focused on offering more exclusive products, “so all the way down to the hardware, the finishes and fine details, we’re offering something unique,” Cates says. “We don’t want to play games competing on the same products.”

Sarreid is building on the success of its round Jupe extension dining tables with the new Cambiare model.

Among the new items is the Italian-made Cambiare table. Using a similar construction to its round Jupe tables, the rectangular model expands and contracts without the need for leaf storage. (“Cambiare” is Italian for “change.”) Before expansion, the table seats six but when fully extended to about 99 inches by 55 inches, it seats 12 comfortably. It retails for $3,800.

The company also is adding three new beds. “Our entrée into that category has been very successful, and we know we have to have an appreciable number of beds to be taken seriously in the category. Again, that’s all part of building Sarreid as a whole home resource.”

A new favorite of Cates is Textures, a case goods group including a console table, coffee table, desk, three-drawer chest and two-drawer sideboard, all with metal accents and a deep wave pattern that gives the collection its name.

“We designed it exclusively — the look, the metal hardware application,” Cates says. “And it’s got the team just bouncing off the walls (with excitement). To me, it’s the juxtaposition of the old and the new that’s so special.”

The exclusive Textures group, including this coffee table, features metal accents for a dramatic, transitional look.

A REFRESHED SHOWROOM

In the past, Sarreid often grouped items in the showroom by sub-brands based on manufacturing plant or country of origin, but as it expands categories like beds, fleshes out lines and brings consistency to finishes throughout its manufacturing partners, it has been rethinking its displays.

In October, visitors to its showroom (3D in the Commerce & Design building) will see an updated space, with more lifestyle presentations created by Mickey Sharpe, an interior designer based in Lexington, North Carolina, who is also Sarreid’s longtime showroom designer.

“It has a more of a residential feeling with architectural elements added,” Cates says. “As an interior designer, Mickey just gets it. He can say, ‘This canopy bed pairs well with these more French-looking nightstands’ and puts something great together. Customers can walk into the showroom and understand what the Sarreid line is today.”

Cates adds that he’s also pleased to have a new, complementary exhibitor in the C&D building this fall as rug and textiles maker Jaipur Living moves into a new space (4B, 4N, 4P). “We think Jaipur coming to the fourth floor is going to be very positive,” he says. “We welcome anybody that is in our class of goods, and we want to be good neighbors.”

As the industry builds toward High Point, Sarreid will refresh imagery on its website and release a new supplemental catalog of products.

MARKETING AROUND MARKETS

The company has pared back its website to make it as “user friendly as humanly possible” and to home in on the products and information buyers want most. It has also been going retro in some of its marketing with direct mail. “There’s something about getting something in the mail,” Cates says. “…It gives us a new, if old, way to connect with people.”

And continual product introductions is working for the company as it strives to meet demand for in-stock, new product. As an example, Cates says, Sarreid unveiled a new leather headboard on its website and social media channels in September — and it sold out in a couple of weeks.

“I think it’s smart that everyone comes to market,” he says. “… But I think the trend now is that if you have a new product and customers know the vendor and their quality level, (customers) are becoming more comfortable purchasing sight unseen.”

That said, Cates remains busy prepping the showroom and is eager for market.

“I think the ethos of who Sarreid is is going to be very present in a physical form for this market, and I can’t wait to get there,” he says.

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