Exhibitors report strong January Las Vegas Market

Mix of inline and new products drew designers and dealers from the West Coast and beyond

LAS VEGAS — Case goods and upholstery resources alike reported a strong winter Las Vegas Market that some described as the strongest since before the pandemic in attendance, buyer attitudes and even written business.

Falling on the heels of the Dallas and Atlanta markets, the event drew dealers and designers from the West Coast, but also other areas of the country seeking to jump start their year with new and inline goods that can help boost traffic and sales heading through the first and second quarters.

An advantage for many buyers is that much product already seen in High Point and shown again in Las Vegas is available either in warehouses or on the water soon to hit U.S. shores. That means that dealers can quickly get those goods onto their floors or even in their warehouses as a preemptive hedge against goods possibly facing increased or new tariffs in the weeks or months ahead.

Full-line wood furniture and upholstery resource Homelegance had plenty of new goods on hand, including three new bedrooms, six new dining sets and several new motion upholstery groups representing some 20% of the category on the floor. But some 80% of the showroom was either in stock, or expected to be in stock in the next 60 days. As a result, the company was getting a fair share of written business at the show, including categories that included motion and stationary upholstery, accent chairs and some case goods.

“We focused a lot more on in-stock products because that’s what independent stores are asking for,” said Jamie Collins, executive vice president, noting that the demand wasn’t as much tariff related as it was to fulfill the immediate needs of dealers and their local customers. “This is a good market for our independent retailers, who want what’s in stock.”

In a similar fashion, full-line wood furniture and upholstery resource Steve Silver Co. focused on its “greatest hits,” providing a full mix of some of its bestselling items across categories. These products, too, are either in stock, or on the water, soon to arrive in the U.S.
That said, the company reported both strong orders and commitments that will allow its customers to get the goods sooner versus later.

“It has been mostly positive,” said Ian Geltner, vice president of sales, on the second day of the market. “We are showing product that we know sells and that we are flooring well. … We have had a couple of successful days so far.”

Case goods resource Horizon Home also reported a strong January market, as early visitors responded well to its mix of more than 100 new pieces, including a new collection called Saddle Mountain (a nod to the former rustic furniture style leader Shadow Mountain) as well as more than 20 new entertainment consoles, several new bedrooms, a mix of new onyx accent tables and more. It also showed a host of inline product that is in production or ready to ship.

The company reported strong early traffic and response to its products, although like most companies, it expects more orders not written at market to materialize in the days and weeks ahead.

Moe’s Home Collection also said it was having a strong market based on early attendance. Like others, it was showing a wide mix of inline goods across categories ranging from sofas and sectionals to dining and occasional tables and media consoles, to name several.

This vignette showcases some of the living room and dining furniture available in the Gillian Segal X Moe’s licensed line at Moe’s Home Collection.

Full-line resource Flexsteel offered a generous mix of its core categories, such as case goods, upholstery and motion furniture. The company reported strong early attendance and order writing, including on product introduced at the last High Point Market that has not been seen by a largely West Coast dealer base that attends the Las Vegas show.

“People are making decisions,” said David Crimmins, vice president of sales, of the activity at market, noting that this is based on a mix of “optimism about an improved economy and excitement about new product.”

This console is part of Flexsteel’s Waterfall collection. In addition to wire management, it features soft close drawers and built in outlets and USB ports.

Armen Living also gets a lot of first-time looks on previously introduced goods from dealers that don’t attend High Point. But it also had plenty of new product to show — including some 200 pieces across categories such as barstools, dining sets and outdoor furniture — to West Coast customers along with majors that shop both markets.

With its focused assortment, the company believes it appeals to a broad range of customers that it says are having success with its mix of barstools, for example, that it says generate a large amount of business in small footprints.

“Dealers are seeing four, five and six times their average sales per square foot with our barstools,” said Reb Nicholson, national sales manager. “They look to us as a beacon of business.”

These are some of the barstools that Armen Living showed at the January Las Vegas Market.

Featuring a diverse mix of styles, the barstools also complement its mix of outdoor product which bring indoor looks to the outdoors with mixed-media elements such as woven rope, aluminum frames and solution-dyed acrylic fabrics on upholstery, plus sintered stone tops on dining tables.

“This is another nice opening in the market today,” Nicholson said of consumers’ desire to bring indoor looks outside with a mix of “eclectic and contemporary styling, mixed media and quality construction.”

New to market this time and showing for the first time in the show’s nearly 20-year history were Bernhardt and Century.

Both reported strong attendance for a first market, with roughly 400 visitors each in just over the first full day.

Bernhardt’s mix included some 10 settings of furniture including seven indoor groups and three outdoor groups.

Much of the product shown covered two main design aesthetics including rustic modern and glamorous transitional, both of which were aimed at a broad audience that included West Coast designers. With this mix of product, the company aims to introduce the customer to an even broader mix of the thousands of pieces available through its catalog.

Bernhardt showed the Agnes dining table, which features a glass top and stainless steel base inspired by a woman’s cuff bracelet. It is shown with the Stanbro chairs in boiled wood fabric.

“It is the best certainly of our most recent introductions along with a sprinkling of things from a year ago,” said Heather Eidenmiller, director of brand development at Bernhardt.

Bryan Edwards, vice president of sales, residential upholstery and export, pointed to an example of a Northern California rep that opened two accounts early in the show, selling not only what was on the floor, but also layering on an additional order of what was in the catalog.

“The conversation started here, but it doesn’t end here,” Edwards said. “This is just the opening act.”

Rock House Farm, whose brands include Century, Hickory Chair, Highland House, Hancock & Moore and others, showed a mix of product from each company, but also mixed products together to show designers how the brands complement each other in different settings.

While the company drew some majors, much of the attendance was from designers who gravitate towards this approach to showcasing product. Being able to show all the brands in one 10,000-square-foot space, as opposed to many different individual showrooms in High Point, also was a benefit for visiting customers, noted Alex Shuford III, chief executive officer of Rock House Farms.

“If you come to see us in High Point, you have to go to five or six different showrooms each for an hour tour,” he said. “So to see Rock House in High Point is at least six hours minimum. Here you can see us in 20 minutes, have some conversations and look at a little bit of product. So it’s pretty efficient.”

This mix of luxury furnishings greeted visitors at the entrance of the Rock House Farm space at the Las Vegas Market, which featured product from Century, Highland House, Hickory Chair, Maitland-Smith, Highland House and other legacy brands.

He added that the mix included all inline product as Rock House Farm was “the new product here.” But he said the company plans to introduce new product at the summer Las Vegas Market, giving buyers a first look at new goods planned for the October High Point Market.

Overall, he was pleased with its first show at the Las Vegas Market, where it will maintain a year-round showroom in the Las Vegas Design Center.

“I expected very little writing at the show, but yesterday we wrote a little bit of business,” he said on day two of the market. “And today I think we will write a little bit. I don’t know if that is the kind of show for us, but I think we can make it that kind of show. We can bring some of our more moderately priced product out here and show it in a way that appeals to instant gratification. … But what we are mainly trying to do instead is show an elevated look to the local design community.”

“And what we are hearing from the West Coast crowd, especially the designer crowd from California and the Pacific Northwest, is that it is hard to get to High Point,” he added. “This gives them an easy place to come in with a client for a day and an evening and be right back in San Francisco the next day. We have some good agent partners that represent us in California and the Northwest, but you don’t have this amount of product out there.”

Thomas Russell

Home News Now Editor-in-Chief Thomas Russell has covered the furniture industry for 25 years at various daily and weekly consumer and trade publications. He can be reached at tom@homenewsnow.com and at 336-508-4616.

View all posts by Thomas Russell →

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to our Newsletter for breaking news, special features and early access to all the industry stories that matter!


Sponsored By: