This week, The International Home Furnishings
Market was held in High Point, NC. Designers,
Store Owners, Buyers and many others graced
the streets of High Point to preview the
coming trends in the furniture market.
In my next few blogs I will share my market experience
with you. First, I want to impress upon you
how really huge market is and how
overwhelming it can be. The task can be quite
daunting if you don’t know where to go…..
Huge doesn’t even begin to
describe High Point Market!
I’d like to share with you a few of the main buildings…
First, let’s talk about the main building, which is called
the IHFC Building (International Home Furnishings Center).
This building has 14 floors and over 3.5 million square feet.
This is just one of the many buildings you have to shop
to locate resources in High Point. This building
has 6 wings on each floor, each wing is
named for the city streets they front on.
This can be really confusing if you aren’t paying
attention though, you may be in the Commerce
wing and get sidetracked by another showroom and
walk over to see that one and suddenly, you
are in another wing! So you have to
be careful and pay attention to the
task at hand!
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IHFC Building in High Point
On the first floor of the IHFC Building is the InterHall, this is where all the really current, trendy new lines for furniture and accessories are shown. Floors 1-4 are mainly for accessories and floors 5-12 are for furniture in this building. Pavillion on 3 is on third floor and this is like a market place with a lot of new fun items.
Across the street from the IHFC Building is
Showplace. Showplace has 3 floors and 67,000
square feet of showroom space!
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Doesn’t ShowPlace look like something out of the Jetsons?
Then down the street a couple of blocks, there is the C & D Building (Commerce & Design) which has 9 floors and over a quarter of a million square feet of showroom space, showing over 200 lines.
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Commerce & Design Building, High Point, NC
This is where Sarried Line shows and my favorite
place to eat when I am at market.
Across the street but beside C & D is Market Square,
Suites at Market Square and Market Square Tower.
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Suites at Market Square, High Point, NC
| This building has 3 floors and over 350,000 square feet of showroom space. During market this is where the “new to the industry” exhibits show. These showrooms are temporary. This is also where the cash and carry items typically are located. Connected to this building is the Market Tower, better known as the Textiles tower. It has 15 floors and over 109,000 square feet of showroom space! |
There are tons of other smaller showrooms as well an
individual showroom buildings all over the place in High Point!
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There are 12 lines in the Hamilton Square building.
The area below is what is known as the design district. It is within walking distance of the main IHFC building and of course there are shuttles running all over the place.
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Design District in High Point, NC
This is just a brief overview of some of the buildings
with showrooms. There are ton and tons more!!!
It is spread out over downtown High Point, not under
one roof like the mall. (I think that is what some people picture!)
As you can see, shopping the High Point Market is not a task for
the average shopper. You need experienced guidance and a good
pair of walking shoes, on your first time there. I have been going for
15 years and I am still trying to figure out where things are.
Tomorrow I will share with you some of the things I found…
You don’t want to miss these goodies!
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