Tupelo Furniture Market expecting ‘packed house’

By DAVID HELMS
Pontotoc Progress
With more than 100 new exhibitors coming to town, along with thousands of buyers, tomorrow’s opening of the spring Tupelo Furniture Market promises to be one of the largest in several years.
Furniture and accessory companies from the U.S., and several from overseas, will exhibit their new products at the 26th bi-annual edition of the Tupelo Furniture Market which runs Thursday through Sunday (Feb. 28-March 3).
Kevin J. Seddon, who took over as president of the Tupelo Market in May 2012, said they’re expecting a packed house at their facilities on Coley Road.
“We’re going to have over 500 exhibitors at this show, which will include about 100 new companies, plus as least that many who showed for the first time here back in August (2012) and are back again,” said Seddon.
Seddon said a lot of exhibitors have expanded their floor space this week.
“When an exhibitor goes from the open floor to a showroom, or a showroom company asks to double their space, that’s exciting and very promising for everyone in this business,” said Seddon.
And because of Tupelo’s geographic  location, nearer the center of the U.S., exhibitors can expect to draw buyers from throughout the country.
“We have an advantage over the east (High Point) and west (Las Vegas) markets because a lot of our folks can drive in from both directions,” Seddon said.
“We get a lot that drive in from Texas, Louisiana, up through Illinois and Ohio and obviously the Gulf Coast and neighboring states,” he said.
“We’ll be close to having buyers here from every state, and we’ve even got some coming from South America, New Zealand and Africa.”
Seddon emphasized that North Mississippi remains the primary hub for the world’s furniture manufacturing.
That advantage combines well with the Tupelo Furniture Market’s reputation for “getting business done.”
“Tupelo is known as an order writing market,” Seddon emphasized. “Buyers shop at other markets, but they tend to go ahead and buy here in Tupelo.”
“And we’ve got probably 80 companies that are exclusive to the Tupelo Market.
“Buyers come here knowing they’re not going to see some of these folks again.
The Tupelo Furniture Market has also expanded its own staff and upgraded the event’s technology.
“We’ve hired additional sales personnel and buyer recruitment personnel and hired more maintenance staff to accommodate our exhibitors and buyers,” Seddon said.
“We’ll be launching a new website next month and we’re getting deeper into the social media.
“We’re adding a furniture link site to gain exposure and communicate more with the market.”
“All the badges will be bar coded and we’ll have scanners to make it easier for the exhibitors to capture the information from the buyers.”
And for the second time, the Tupelo Furniture Market will be welcoming the general public to a furniture and accessories  show in Building One.
“This went over so well back in August, we’ve doubled the size this week,” Seddon said.
“Building One is open to the public and it’s full of below retail deals on furniture, major accessories and appliances.