This spring’s High Point Market is in the books, yet the aftershocks of what went on will reverberate throughout the furniture and home furnishings sector for months, seasons and most likely years to come.

Of course, it was all about tariffs. You couldn’t swing a dead credenza without hitting the topic: It immediately came up in every showroom meeting or chance encounter, and it spilled into the hallways and sidewalks of the Market complex.

Suppliers and retailers of all shapes and sizes had been talking about tariffs for months, but the reality of what they meant for the business of making and selling furniture hit with a massive thud this week—as if that giant dresser on North Hamilton had landed on top of business leaders and their companies. Speculation, conjecture and forecasts turned into reality. The chaos turned into calamity.

Don’t forget that all of this comes in the context of a home furnishings business that was already struggling with its post-pandemic hangover, trying to get its footing back with consumers who have avoided buying their products like the plague.

Here are the key takeaways for manufacturers and retailers from High Point. Read ’em and weep.

CHINESE FREEZE
Any vendor selling and any retailer buying product out of China was pretty much in limbo. Goods in process are stuck at whatever point they were at on April 2. That could be at the factory, at the port in Shanghai or waiting to get into American ports. The 145 percent tariff rate is not just a dealbreaker—it’s a deal crusher. This especially impacts outdoor furniture, anything made of metal and, key to the upholstery business, fabrics. Outside of furniture, the lighting sector is particularly vulnerable given that the majority of its products are made in China.

SOUTHEAST ASIAN SQUEEZE
The rest of the furniture producing world, especially in Vietnam and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, is scrambling to get goods through the pipeline before the 90-day tariff freeze is scheduled to end in early July. Many remain hopeful that the July date is not for real, and that some sort of a workaround will be set up behind the scenes. As with anything to do with tariffs, the uncertainty is making it hard for retailers to do any true planning.

DOMESTIC BOOST
American producers were especially popular at Market, with some saying they were getting visits from retailers who hadn’t answered their calls and emails for years. But with relatively limited capacities compared to overseas resources, most expected to be unable to satisfy this increased demand. And again, it might be made here, but many if not most components are coming from over there.

RUSH ON INVENTORY
Pre-tariff inventories were in great demand, with dealers grabbing what they could before the goods run out. One furniture supplier said he had enough Chinese fabric on hand to make about a dozen custom sofas; after that, he would need to resort to a substitute cloth. The company expected a quick sellout.

LUXURY BUFFER
The higher end of the market continues to do better—“less worse” might be a better way to put it—than the mass side of the business. Interior designers were out in full force at Market, stocking up on tote bags and mimosas even if many didn’t actually place orders. Still, it was better to be in better goods.

HOLIDAY JITTERS
As dismal as the news was for furniture, it was far worse for gifts, toys and other seasonal classifications that might not have been fully represented in High Point, but were nonetheless on the minds and shopping lists of buyers. The ordering window is on the verge of closing for these products. With these exorbitant tariff rates, a paralyzed supply chain and increasingly spooked consumers, these are the categories most at risk for the back half of the year.

Was there any good news? You had to search for it, but a surprisingly large number of new or remodeled showrooms, decent crowds around town, and a continued faith that American shoppers will always be shoppers kept vendors and retailers in improbably good spirits. The furniture and home business has been through what seems like an endless series of crises over the past two decades-plus—from 9/11 to the 2008 housing-driven Great Recession to Covid to a supply chain meltdown—so many took this as just one more brick in the proverbial wall. A wall, it must be said, that is especially tough to traverse this time.

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Warren Shoulberg is the former editor in chief for several leading B2B publications. He has been a guest lecturer at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business; received honors from the International Furnishings and Design Association and the Fashion Institute of Technology; and been cited by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and other media as a leading industry expert. His Retail Watch columns offer deep industry insights on major markets and product categories.