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Judy Mendenhall
International Home Furnishings Market Authority |
Mitch Lewis:
Judy, as you well know, in 2001 the North Carolina Progress
Board released a report called North Carolina 20/20, and it focused
on eight specific areas that it believed they needed to work on
to ensure that all North Carolinians live a quality life by the
year 2020. And one of the areas dealt with a high performance workforce.
Now, with everything that's been going on in the Triad area-with
the textile industry and the furniture industry-how has that impacted
the International Home Furnishings Market?
Judy Mendenhall:
Well, the market itself is sort of a stand alone if you will.
It's a unique opportunity for people to come to North Carolina to
do business-to buy and sell home furnishings. But the fact that
the market is here provides a myriad of other job opportunities
for small business people throughout the area-and in fact throughout
the entire state. So the health of the market really supplements
and augments any job losses that we see. Now, it doesn't totally
replace the jobs that are gone. There's no question about that.
But a healthy market can provide employment for a variety of people
in a variety of ways and so that's a good thing. I think in terms
of direct impact on the market, the closing of plants in those industries
that you talked about, textiles and even furniture, doesn't have
a direct impact on Market as long as the furniture manufacturers
are still producing. In other words, a reduction in their workforce
doesn't necessarily mean that they aren't going to be at Market
because they still are manufacturing or importing product-so they
still have product to sell.
Mitch Lewis:
And of course, the International Home Furnishings Market being
international-what is the global impact of the Market?
Judy Mendenhall:
This market is the largest home furnishings trade show in the
world. We have over 3,000 exhibitors. Ten percent of our attendance
is international. Over 100 countries are represented. We are so
different from the other shows around the world because we are so
much larger. It actually is a plus and a minus in many ways because
there is more here; if you can't find it in High Point, it probably
isn't made. (smiles) So if you are a buyer, this is the place you
want to be. Likewise, if you are a manufacturer or if you have a
product that's connected to the home furnishings industry, you also
want to be here because our 70 to 80-thousand people who come here
is the largest attendance for any show. We have 11-million square
feet of exhibition space, others may have a thousand-I mean a million,
excuse me. So we are quite different from every other show and yet
more and more internationals recognize the value of this market,
so they want to come here. That also offers us a challenge because
our show is so different. We have to work with them so they understand
how to exhibit, or how to buy here in High Point.
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