Kyra Skipworth traveled from Amarillo, Texas to Las Vegas to take an in-person look at the latest styles at the largest wholesale trade show for furniture, gifts and home decor on the West Coast.
“When new trends hit, they get to us a bit later,” said Skipworth, who works at The Urban Giraffe, a home decor store in Amarillo. “We hope that we can be the first to bring them into the town. That’s what we come here for — new inspiration.”
This year, Skipworth noticed teals and greens making a comeback, as well as mixed metals.
From Sunday to Thursday, the Las Vegas Market expects to bring in over 50,000 attendees from around the world. The event occurs biannually, first in January and then again in the summer. It is owned and operated by ANDMORE, a Blackstone portfolio company that connects wholesale buyers and sellers through trade shows and design centers.
Latest trends
On the opening morning of the Las Vegas Market, Logan Avidon, ANDMORE’s director of buyer relations for furniture and home decor, guided a group of eager buyers through the different floors and buildings of the expansive 5.3-million-square-foot venue.
She catered her tour specifically to the group’s two main needs: affordability and aesthetics.
“Something that retailers are having a hard time finding, and therefore, the consumer is having a hard time finding, is very aesthetically pleasing furniture lines at an affordable price point,” said Avidon. “The people who are buying the most furniture right now are people like me, who are millennials who have car payments and mortgages and childcare bills and student loans. We don’t have a whole lot of expendable income to be able to get our houses to look the way that we want.”
Throughout her tour, Avidon pointed the buyers towards companies she felt met this criteria, including Modus, LH Home, Aspen Home and Salted Oak, a new and less expensive offshoot of Alder and Tweed.
“The coolest thing that stood out to me was the really innovative ways that people are bringing home entertainment into furniture,” said Avidon as she wrapped up her tour. She pointed to wooden poker tables and skee balls machines that blend in as furniture, rather than sticking out as gaming equipment.
Another major trend this year, according to Avidon, was furniture that brings the outdoors inside. This includes wood mixed with marble and pieces with natural curvatures. Many buyers attend in order to stay on top of these trends.
In-person experiences
In a wholesale marketplace that is increasingly shifting online, trade shows, like the Las Vegas Market, offer in-person experiences where buyers and sellers can see and touch the products, as well as network and build connections.
“The end consumer is really struggling with the furniture that shows up at our house not looking like it does online,” said Avidon. “Stores need to come here to make sure that the things that they are ordering to sell, they’re getting their return on investment.”
Regina Schachter, owner of Doodles.ink, has attended the Las Vegas Market the past four years to promote her California-inspired stationary and gifts.
“The biggest thing for me is getting to know other businesses and retailers out there and learning what they are looking for,” said Schachter. “You can’t get that online.”
For some sellers, the Las Vegas Market is essential to their business. Rita Kocher, the owner of Vintage Decor, does not sell her items online at all. Trade shows are the sole source of all the sales of her handmade colorful leather goods.
