High Point Pre-Market Sponsors Announce 2009 Dates

Furniture World Magazine

The sponsoring manufacturers of the High Point Pre-Market movement announced that they voted late last month to retain the previously established Pre-Market schedule. As such, Spring Pre-Market has been set for March, 23-24, 2009 and Fall Pre-Market is set for September 14-15, 2009. While it was once an informal and unofficial affair, thanks to its organizing manufacturers, Pre-Market has been revitalized and repositioned in the past two years, quickly gaining traction as an important special event offering significant competitive advantage for participating retailers and manufacturers. “For a growing number of leading retailers, participating in Pre-Market has once again become a way to secure distribution of key product lines and shore up key vendor relationships,” says Brian D. Casey, president and chief executive officer of the High Point Market Authority, who serves as spokesperson for the event’s organizing manufacturers. “And, the input of these major retailers was sought in setting the dates of the event. The strategy and timing of Pre-Market have been in place since the organizing manufacturers came together to revitalize the event two years ago. While other markets may move around the chosen dates, it does not change the importance of Pre-Market to both the retail and manufacturing communities that support the event.” In addition to securing distribution, Pre-Market also enables buyers to spend more time exploring and focusing on what’s new at the High Point Market one month later, because much of their preliminary groundwork has already been covered. “Buyers tell us participating in Pre-Market assists them in making smart buying decisions, which is obviously more critical than ever at a time when economic conditions are challenging so many in the industry.” Indeed, Casey sums, “The decision to maintain the current Pre-Market schedule further validates the importance of the High Point Market as the source for new products. High Point has historically been, and continues to be, the source for new product introductions above and beyond any other market here in the U.S., and it is in the best interests of our industry, financially and economically, that it remains as such.”