by HIGH POINT— The High Point Premarket committee is reporting strong interest from invited buyers in advance of the spring event, which this year has shifted to April, as Premarket builds on the momentum and record attendance gained last fall,
Typically occurring each March, the spring 2021 Premarket moved to April 25-27 after the High Point Market Authority announced Spring High Point Market’s move to June.
“We are receiving unprecedented interest from our buyer base,” said Doug Bassett, chairman of the committee and president of Vaughan-Bassett Furniture. ” Considering all the restrictions and travel woes people were experiencing this past fall, it’s a refreshing change of tune that more are willing to hop in the car or on a plane to get here.”
Before the pandemic, Bassett added, Premarket typically would see about 100 to 110 dealers in attendance. Last September, however, more than 300 dealers made the trip, many of them “drive-ins” that the sponsors had no idea were coming until they showed up in our showrooms.
“Based on the early response to this April’s Premarket, we think we will see another 300 or so dealers in April,” he said. “We also believe the numbers will return to something more normal by the fall, when we hope the pandemic is largely in our rearview mirror and virtually everybody is vaccinated.”
Bassett said the exhibitors will be ready for them. “whether they’re invited to Premarket, coming to June Market, or hopefully both, High Point is here to serve,” he said in a release.
A biannual tradition, Premarket is designed to provide a select group of furniture retailers with a precursory look at the product introductions set to debut at the High Point Market, more usually held a month to six weeks later. The early appointments allow attending retailers to have more in-depth showroom visits and frees up their schedule when they return for the official High Point Market so they can visit a larger group of exhibitors overall.
The spring Premarket will feature 20 sponsoring exhibitors They are:
- Aspenhome
- Austin Group Furniture
- Avalon Furniture
- Bernhardt Furniture
- Digio Leather
- Hillsdale Furniture
- Hooker Furniture
- Incanto Italia
- Leather Italia USA
- Legacy Classic Furniture
- Magnussen Home Furnishings
- New Classic Furniture
- Palliser Furniture
- Pulaski Furniture
- Riverside Furniture
- Samuel Lawrence Furniture
- Sunpan Furniture
- Universal Furniture
- Vanguard Furniture
- Vaughan-Bassett Furniture
Other exhibitors have indicated they will also open for buyer appointments during the April Premarket dates, some through initiatives like First Tuesday and High Point x Design, and others independently since buyers will be in town.
The companies are among the nearly two-thousand exhibitors planning to exhibit at High Point Market, scheduled for June 5-9. Registration is now open at www.highpointmarket.org.
