Companies pleased with market

Business picked up pace this week
Thursday, April 30, 2009

By AMANDA BUCK - Bulletin Staff Writer

Most area furniture manufacturers were pleased with this week’s High Point furniture market despite the difficult economy, although they acknowledged that attendance was not as high as in years past.


“We were fully geared up for a great market. We prepared that way, and it happened,” said Bruce Cohenour, senior vice president of national accounts and business development for Hooker Furniture.

With the economy in a recession and the furniture industry weathering a downturn, some companies opted to reduce their offerings, Cohenour said, but Hooker was not among them.

“We took the opposite approach, and it’s paid big dividends,” he said.

Hooker’s three new collections — Envision, which targets young customers, and Kinston and Legends, which incorporate Asian and primitive influences — were well received by customers, said Cohenour and Kim Shaver, Hooker’s vice president of marketing communications.

Although larger dealers were at market, some smaller retailers stayed away this year, Cohenour said. All customers are important, but Cohenour said the key, large accounts were present and accounted for.

“We didn’t miss a single customer that we wanted to see,” he said.

Overall, “we couldn’t be more thrilled with the market,” Cohenour said Monday. “ ... We want to get back and see how the rest of the year plays out.”