Home Items Buoy Spring Gift Market at CMC
Like the spring weather, the outlook for business is getting a little heated, said retailers and exhibitors attending the Los Angeles Gift and Home Market March 27–29 at the California Market Center.
Retailer attendance was twice that of last year’s spring market, said Charlie Snyder, gift and home markets manager for the CMC.
Two additional showroom floors and a beefed-up marketing campaign helped out, Snyder said.
“It was a very good show,” he said. “We had four educational seminars, and they all sold out. We sent out pre-show planners, badges and tickets to 42,000 retailers representing 19,000 stores.”
Not all resources saw the improved attendance reflected in their showrooms, but most agreed on one thing: Home deacute;cor is hot.
“Consumers are putting more money into their homes and less into other goods,” said Mike Kessler, senior vice president of Russ Berrie & Co., which expanded into the home market a couple of years ago. In January, the traditional marketer of plush toys opened a CMC showroom that is five times the size of its previous space in the nearby L.A. Mart.
Kessler said the rise of specialty stores is creating a bigger market for home goods.
Most of the larger CMC showrooms are growing their home furnishings offerings. Carol Lang, principal of California Marketing Associates, said the CMC picked up new table-top ceramic items from Dallas-based Lotus International and Dundee, Mich.–based Young’s Inc., as well as bath items from Seattle-based Hydrologie Inc.
In July, Firestone Associates will expand its Home Accents division with home products from Escondido, Calif.–based Mark Roberts, said Chief Executive Officer Richard Firestone.
In general, showroom managers said buyers are becoming optimistic about business heading into the second half of the year. Firestone said many stores that operate in strip malls anchored by grocery chains are recovering from that industry’s five-month-long strike, which kept consumers away from supermarkets and neighboring businesses. “Buyers are still cautious, but they’re buying,” Firestone said.
Ruth Ferrow of Ruth’s Giftware in West Hills, Calif., said she was in a “gazing” mode, looking particularly for homerun items. Los Angeles–based interior decorator Milton Kagen said he was on the lookout for quality rugs. Other buyers reported improving results on their sales floors.
The cross-merchandising element at the CMC appeared to be working. Betty Volk, showroom manager for apparel and home furnishings provider April Cornell, said buyers were interested in Kit Cornell, a new apparel line featuring a smaller cut and more contemporary edge than the company’s main line of women’s and children’s dresses and separates. Buyers went for “Mommy and Me” combinations as well as separates in wovens and knits.
Kessler said Russ Berrie is also looking into cross-merchandising ventures and is negotiating with an apparel buying office to explore sales opportunities.
Snyder of the CMC said the building’s managers are planning to integrate accessories showrooms into future gift markets. The CMC also plans to add a “Gifts To Go” section of temporary showrooms later this year.
In addition, the Crystal Group will soon open a 4,000-square-foot showroom on the 10th floor. “They sell everything you would find at Virgin Records stores outside of the music,” Snyder said.
