April 18, 2010 Iceland volcano's effects felt at market
But impact on travel ‘marginal' for High Point show
AT THE MARKET — An Icelandic volcano's eruption that has disrupted European air travel is having some fallout here in the form of spot shortages of products, buyers and exhibitors.
With 10% of the market made up of international attendees from 106 countries, the volcano has created a glut of flight cancellations and delays for some travelers who are headed to market.
"We are keeping a close eye on the situation, but thankfully, the impact on people traveling to market has been marginal," said Brian Casey, president and CEO of the High Point Market Authority. "In fact, we just had buyers from Finland arrive and also learned that a group of buyers from the Middle East, while delayed, will make it here."
Casey said the majority of the market's international visitors come from countries such as Mexico and Canada, which haven't been affected by the volcano.
While that assessment was shared by many of those interviewed for this story, a number of people, including Jay Skelton, a rep with Leif Peterson, said his company has felt an impact. About half of the sales reps that were expected to be in High Point to show the Leif Peterson line, which includes contemporary case goods and occasional furniture from eight Italian factories, were stranded in Italy.
"The plan was to have them work the Milan fair, which overlaps with High Point, then come here. But now, we have no idea of if they will get here, or when," Skelton said.
He also said a small group of American buyers who usually visit him in High Point may not make it to market. "Those buyers decided to shop the Milan show, then come to High Point, and now they are stuck in Italy," he said.
John Conrad, vice president of merchandising for importer Powell, said personnel and buyers were not the only things missing from his showroom.
"Not only are we probably not going to see a few of our retailers from England, but those buyers who are here won't see two entertainment centers we were planning to show," he said. The furniture, which had been shipped to a customer for review, was on its way back from Asia but was grounded once the volcano disrupted hundreds of connecting flights.
But Art DeFehr, president and CEO of Canadian supplier Palliser, said he has seen no disruption to his market by the volcano. "In fact, I just met with one of my leather suppliers from Italy and he found a way to get here."
Jim Ziozis, president of importer Linon, agreed. "Of course, depending on where you were trying to come from, you could be facing some severe travel challenges, but most of our international customers tend not to come in the day of the show, or even the day before, so we are good to go."
Century Furniture officials said that customers from Estonia, England and Germany were facing possible delays and may not get to High Point as a result. But they aren't expecting it to have a big impact on written business from international customers this market.
High-end case goods producer Excelsior Designs was expecting some customers to come in from Milan, but they come to High Point late in the show anyway, said Paul Greenbaum, vice president of sales and marketing.
Associate Editor Thomas Russell contributed to this story.
- Published on Ray Allegrezza -- Furniture Today, updated April 18, 2010 | 
