Oct. 14—HIGH POINT — High Point Market organizers say there are plenty of positive signs as the fall home furnishings trade show gets underway today.
For starters, all of the early indicators are that Market attendance — including that of international marketgoers, who comprise about 10% of the total, representing more than 100 countries — continues to bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic.
"We are definitely seeing that incremental increase in registrations, which is great. International is up higher than it's been since COVID. So that's positive," said Tammy Nagem, president and CEO of the High Point Market Authority.
She said the Market is meeting its goal to feature an extensive selection of exhibitors that span every category, style and price point.
"In terms of buying, we feel really good that there seem to be a lot of new introductions coming back this Market," Nagem said. "In that supply-chain crunch that we had for years, you didn't see as many new introductions as we had in the past. But that seems to definitely be strong this Market, which is fantastic."
The Market Authority this fall launched an initiative called "vintage vibes" to highlight the many showrooms that feature antiques.
"One of the segments that we were really trying to help promote this Market was our antique exhibitors," said Nagem. "High Point's been very strong in attracting a lot of great antique manufacturers or importers, and we did a special emphasis for those buyers. We did a curated list of those exhibitors, and we're doing special transportation between them."
The program features 13 showrooms throughout the Market district.
"We heard for years that antiques are one of those things that cross most designers, no matter the price point," she said. "And also retailers are interested in antiques. So that's one of the reasons we really concentrated on that this Market and tried to elevate some of those exhibitors. And that's been very well received."