Expanded premarket draws increased designer traffic

HIGH POINT – In years past, High Point Premarket wasn’t a particularly designer-friendly event. Created to cater to large retailers, the market mostly included manufacturers who write container orders rather than the smaller boutique brands that deal in one-off requests from interior designers. 

Then COVID-19 happened.

And with the spring High Point Market canceled, along with a bevy of other shows, designers and independent retailers found themselves scrambling to meet a flood of demand from clients overhauling their homes after being stuck indoors during quarantine. With that in mind, a number of smaller, high-end, high-design showrooms opened their doors for Premarket.

One of those Premarket newbies was Abner Henry, an Ohio-based manufacturer known for its craftsmanship, customization and fashion-forward designs. The brand opened a new showroom on a block of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive dotted with designer-friendly makers.

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“We’ve had quite a bit of traffic through during premarket, and it has been primarily interior designers,” said Katherine Respess, territory sales manager, Abner Henry. 

Abner Henry and several of its neighbors opened as part of the new High Point by Design initiative, a push to create a year-round design center of sorts for interior designers by opening showroom doors daily or by appointment outside regular market weeks. In the time of COVID, that concept, along with an expanded premarket, appeals to some designers, particularly those within driving distance.

“We came to premarket because I’m not sure October market will happen,” said Asheville, N.C.-based designer Jennifer Gray. “And especially in this time right now, if more showrooms are open all the time, it’s less congested and safer, and you can relax and shop.

Many of the exhibitors who opened for premarket were pleased with the traffic from designers, and though COVID meant there were additional precautions such as temperature checks and wearing masks, the event felt like a harbinger for better days to come.

“It’s been good—it’s a little different because of COVID,” said Ginny Rasmussen, marketing manager, Mr. Brown London. “And this is our first time being open for it. We’ve had people coming in, we had appointments and some people just stopping in. If it’s a preview of next month, with all proper precautions, it will go well.”

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