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trade shows | Jan 31, 2025 |
5 lessons from Las Vegas Market

As Las Vegas Market approaches its 20th anniversary in July, it’s worth revisiting how it came to be. When the downtown site was chosen, the plan was to create a 10-building complex that could rival the furniture industry’s existing hubs in San Francisco and High Point, North Carolina. While the scope of the project was downsized a few years later during the recession, the trio of buildings that comprise World Market Center now host some 3,500 brands across more than 5 million square feet of showroom space in the furniture, home accents and gift categories. Notably, the upper floors of each building also boast most of the major mattress suppliers, and the Market is the undisputed leader in that category nationwide. While Las Vegas has hardly eclipsed High Point Market as the epicenter of the furniture industry, its revitalization in recent years—new showrooms joining the mix and existing exhibitors playing musical chairs to upgrade their spaces—has created a strong regional foothold for brands to connect with customers west of the Mississippi River.

Here are five takeaways from this week’s show.

EXHIBITOR RENAISSANCE
When Vanguard Furniture first moved into a prime first-floor space in Building A back in 2017, the company shared the 3,250-square-foot showroom with bedding and accessories brand Eastern Accents. In the ensuing years, Vanguard took over the entire space and continued to expand as it found a meaningful customer base on the West Coast.

Las Vegas Market’s offerings for designers also expanded over the years: Hooker Furnishings opened in 2021, followed by Theodore Alexander and Visual Comfort & Co. in 2023, and Loloi and Caracole in 2024. Another brand leading the Vegas charge was Four Hands, which nearly doubled the footprint of its longstanding showroom when it opened a sprawling 41,000-square-foot space on the second floor of Building B two years ago.

Notable new attendees at Winter Market included Rock House Farm and Bernhardt Furniture. The former opened a 10,408-square-foot space in Building A under the new moniker Rock House Designer Brands, representing the combination of the company’s residential offerings from Century, Hancock & Moore, Hickory Chair, Highland House, Jessica Charles and Maitland-Smith under one roof. Bernhardt debuted with a more petite footprint—4,500 square feet, just across the hall from Four Hands—that offered a tightly edited portrait of its aesthetic.

“The Las Vegas home furnishings market has been experiencing a noticeable shift,” says Andy Bray, president of Vanguard Furniture. “For the past eight years, the market was somewhat of a hidden gem for us, but recent appearances from major brands have signaled a change in the tide. The secret is out: Las Vegas is not just a powerhouse in mattresses and accessories anymore.”

A DIFFERENT APPROACH
While showroom footprints varied, one thing was true for all of the designer-focused brands we visited: Their square footage is much smaller than at their High Point locations. Brands consistently shared that their vision in Vegas is to give designers a basic idea of the quality and point of view—and then direct them to a catalog for the full breadth of the collection. So far, it seems to be working. While brands like Vanguard and Theodore Alexander have expanded beyond their original footprint at the show, they’re still taking up far less space than they do in North Carolina and have seen success with the more limited assortment on display. (They also both happen to be located on the first two floors of Building A, which are open year-round and collectively known as the Las Vegas Design Center.)

“The goal of our ‘show’ was to establish a permanent, everyday location in Vegas that looked and felt focused on the luxury market in order to project an ‘example display space’ in the West so our dealers and designers can see the breadth and density of our products,” says Rock House Farm CEO Alex Shuford. “We want to model the behavior we wish to see among our partners—but to do so in a size and format that is similar to something that they could achieve themselves, versus at High Point, where our showrooms are not replicable.”

A DISTINCT AUDIENCE
Covid changed almost everything about the way designers do business—including how they want to shop. One of the drivers for brands’ entry into the Vegas Market is the discovery that their West Coast customers are making the pilgrimage to High Point less often. While its attendance numbers are much smaller than the North Carolina market, show operator Andmore reports a very small overlap in attendees between the two events.

“We opened our showroom in Las Vegas because we knew we were missing many West Coast retailers and designers, [and] we were pleasantly surprised with the volume of traffic that came through the showroom,” says Heather Eidenmiller, director of brand development at Bernhardt. “Visitors ranged from top 100 retailers—many of whom were at the market for the mattress manufacturers but stopped by, [giving] us the opportunity to confirm previous commitments and share some new products for the next market—[to] a lot of independent boutique retailers [and] designers who also have a storefront. Finally, we saw a lot of interior designers, many who had … never seen our products in person.”

Four Hands cited the strong presence of residential designers among its attendees. “On two separate days, we surpassed last year’s total scan count by 2 p.m.,” says Jackie Fitzgerald, the company’s vice president of key accounts. “We noticed designers planning further ahead in their projects, along with an increase in retailers opening new brick-and-mortar locations.”

A NEW DEFINITION OF “NEW”
While a handful of home brands ushered in a fresh batch of product (Four Hands and Hudson Valley Lighting both had some notable drops), most were showing the same goods they debuted at High Point in October. The emphasis was on “new to you” products, with many brands relying on their reps to tailor their presentations to customers as needed.

For Vanguard, that shift has brought unexpected upsides along the way. “Because Las Vegas is a smaller event, the conversations we engage in have become more concentrated on our business partnerships, rather than solely focusing on product introductions,” says Bray. The fact that the majority of attendees are from Western states also allows his creative team to merchandise its assortment with those customers in mind. “We look at our Vegas showroom as a jewel box where we present a distinct California vibe,” he adds. “Our team completely transforms our company’s image through relaxed finishes, textiles and colors. What is happening now in Vegas is that [other furniture brands are] adopting the same strategy. We are all acknowledging that we can have a meaningful market presence in a smaller, compact footprint.”

GOOD VIBES
Even if you don’t love Vegas, it is impossible not to appreciate how naturally attuned the city is to the needs of a large trade show. With plenty of nearby accommodations and an abundance of destinations for after-hours parties, dinners and late-night drinks, the lively postshow scene contributed to an upbeat ambiance on the floor. Paired with the steady flow of hit songs piped into public spaces throughout the complex and optimism about attendance (this was Las Vegas Market’s best showing since the pandemic), the vibes were good.

For high-end brands that are more established at the show, the message was clear: Their strategy is working. For those that were newer or making their debuts, Winter Market demonstrated the untapped potential out West. For brands seeking to connect with new faces, this edition delivered. Shuford expressed surprise at how many attendees needed an introduction to his stable of brands, which are impossible to miss at their High Point stronghold: “A quote I heard and loved [was]: ‘I’ve been in design for a while here in Las Vegas. Now, can you tell me again, who are you guys?’”

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