Furniture market must go on

Amid economic turmoil, High Point exhibition, the world's largest, opens with about 80,000 attending

Could there be a worse time to persuade consumers to buy furniture?

The High Point Market, the world's largest exhibition of furniture, opens today against a backdrop of consumers worried about job cutbacks, rising prices and an economy in disarray.

"Just the shock of what's happened in the last four weeks will hurt us," said Jerry Epperson, a furniture analyst with Mann, Armistead & Epperson of Richmond.

Epperson, who will provide an industry outlook to furniture executives today, said that "furniture is a deferrable purchase.

"If your dishwasher or your car transmission breaks, you have to fix them," he said. "But what can go wrong with your chest of drawers? In periods like this, wants give way to needs for everyone."

Epperson forecasts that U.S. sales in the $86 billion-a-year furniture industry will drop about 9 percent in 2008, bottom out in the first part of 2009 and show a modest pickup in the second half of the year. He predicts a strong comeback in 2010.

As 80,000 manufacturers, retailers, sales representatives, interior designers, architects and others gather in High Point, he said, "It won't be the happiest market ever."

Still, Epperson said, the industry, which has dealt with major blows in the past, will be poised to show new products to ship to stores in the spring. "Almost everybody has something new to get consumers' attention," he said.

That includes N.C. manufacturers such as Kincaid Furniture, which employs about 300 making all-wood furniture in its Hudson factory in Caldwell County.

Bob Lemons, senior vice president for sales and marketing, said the company will introduce its Rosecroft line of bedroom, dining room and upholstered furniture in an Arts & Crafts style. Kincaid is now shipping to retailers its American Journal line, which it debuted at the April High Point market.

Lemons said the company makes about half its furniture in North Carolina, the rest overseas. Besides the Hudson plant, it has an upholstery factory in Taylorsville, in Alexander County. During the past two years, all its market introductions have been produced in the state.

North Carolina lost tens of thousands of furniture-making jobs in the last decade, mostly to Asian countries where labor is cheaper. The state now has 1,450 furniture companies with 63,300 workers.

Lemons said his sales staff at High Point is determined to be upbeat. "If you have a cloud hanging over your showroom," he said, "it is mirrored to your customers."

"Sales are a challenge, especially when the economy is in flux," he said. "But with the cost of fuel and travel expenses, we do see a trend for people to make their homes a nicer place to entertain."

Carol Gregg owns Red Egg, a High Point company that reproduces antique pieces in vivid colors. She worries that this year's market will suffer because people are focused on the election.

"But our phone and fax and e-mail are still busy, so I feel pretty good about that," she said.

Gregg moved her boutique business from California to High Point four years ago. Then, two years ago, she started transferring her production from China to a High Point factory. Now, she makes all her products in North Carolina.

She said she made the change because she was spending too much time in China keeping the quality consistent, and her shipping prices kept going up.

At the market, she'll be showing new pieces and new colors in her Asian-themed Double Happiness line and will introduce a new collection of hand-knotted rugs.

"I don't think this market will be spectacular, but I don't think it will be a complete standstill for buying," Gregg said.