Event is primed to ‘exceed expectations’

Kevin Rademacher

Friday, July 22, 2005 | 10:39 a.m.

More than 50,000 furniture retailers, decorators and manufacturers are expected to descend on Las Vegas over the next several days for the first Las Vegas Furniture Market.

The much-publicized inaugural event for the World Market Center has been touted as everything from a milestone for the U.S. furniture industry to a cornerstone for Las Vegas' downtown revitalization efforts.

With such publicity, organizers admit that the pressure is on to produce a good first impression.

"It's extremely important," said Briana Mackey, show director of the World Market Center. "The visibility is way beyond anyone's early expectations. All eyes are on us, and there's certainly a lot of pressure on us."

Pressure, however, does not equate to worry. Mackey pointed out that organizers have been planning the first show for more than a year, and input and assistance has come from Las Vegas city officials as well as furniture industry groups.

"We are well poised to exceed everyone's expectations," Mackey said.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman was not short on enthusiasm about the World Market Center.

"We have a new industry making its home in Las Vegas," he said at his weekly press conference on Thursday. "It's going to diversify the economy overnight. ... I see this as just being the beginning of a whole new way people will be looking at Las Vegas."

Sharon Bradley, executive director of the Western Home Furnishings Association, is equally enthusiastic. The association has been working with the World Market Center since its inception, she said.

"What I love most is that (this show) gives people outside the industry a new view of our industry," she said. "One thing this industry needs to do is get people, particularly young people, interested."

Bradley said the current roster of major shows, which include High Point, N.C., and San Francisco, are aging and "staid."

"This is a new show in a new building that's very high tech," she said. "It's exciting. That attracts interest and it also spurs on manufacturers to do new things."

Rich Serlin, is vice president for sales and marketing for furniture maker APA Marketing Inc. and its subsidiary Encore! Home Entertainment. The parent company moved to its headquarters and an assembly and distribution center to Henderson last year in order to be close to the World Market Center.

The company is now putting the finishing touches on its 10,000-square-foot showroom at the downtown market, Serlin said Wednesday. He added that moving into the center along with hundreds of other exhibitors in preparation for a new show has been an adventure and that there has been nothing to dampen expectations.

"The first market has extraordinary proportions," he said. "But from our perspective, it's going to be pretty spectacular."

Industry analysts have indicated that the five-day event opening on Monday is poised to emerge as one of the largest first-time tradeshows in history.

"If the projections are met, the event definitely will be one of the larger convention and tradeshow launches ever," said Michael Hughes, associate publisher and research director for Tradeshow Week. "Even if they meet only half of the projection it will still be one of the largest."

The market will open in the first of eight buildings planned for the $2 billion World Market Center. The first 10-story building is 1.3 million square feet and is completely leased to about 230 companies, but more than 1,000 exhibitors will be present next week.

To accommodate those commpanies, more than a million square feet of additional exhibit space is planned for a pavilion center made up of temporary tent space in the World Market Center parking lot and additional space at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The convention center also will house the National Association of Woodworking and Furnishings Suppliers show. That association is holding its event in Las Vegas for the first time to capitalize on the presence of the fledgling furniture market.

While World Market Center officials estimate attendance of about 50,000, combined with the woodworking show, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said there could be as many as 80,000 attendees next week.

"The events industry is watching very closely," Hughes said.

For the Las Vegas tourism industry, the event is unique in attracting visitors at a time when the summer heat usually serves as a deterrent. MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said increased activity during the summer follows a similar migration of convention business into traditionally slow times around the holidays, such as January's Consumer Electronics Show.

"In general we have been seeing an increase in convention activity in what has traditionally been fringe times," he said.

Jeremy Aguero, a principal with the Las Vegas economic research firm Applied Analysis, also pointed to more Las Vegas events populating fringe times, a trend he credited to the December National Finals Rodeo and the now-defunct Comdex convention that was held in November. He said success at the furniture market could create a similar trend.

"I want to see how it works," Aguero said. "I'm pretty excited about it."

UNLV economist Keith Schwer, at his annual mid-year economic forecast last month, described the World Market Center as a potentially positive economic "wildcard" for the local economy in the second half of the year.

Feldman said the presence of the World Market Center's July event should also continue the strong momentum shown by the Las Vegas tourism industry this year.

"Across the board, we have seen record demand on an ongoing basis in Las Vegas," Feldman said. "There's numerous reasons for it, primarily the enormous investments made by major properties. ... Certainly helping is the presence of the World Market Center."

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is similarly optimistic about the show.

"It's a huge piece of business," said Erika Yowell, senior media relations manager for the authority. "I can only imagine that it's going to mean good things for Las Vegas."

When the World Market Center is completed in 2015, the 57-acre site is expected to have eight buildings and 12 million square feet of exhibit space.