TUESDAY
TRUE FANS: Followers of popular HBO show get treat. 1B, 1C
September 14, 2010 127th year No. 257
CAMPAIGN SEASON: Candidates to face off at Thomasville forum. 1B
www.hpe.com High Point, N.C.
BEWARE OF BULLDOGS: Thomasville tops High Five. 1D
50 Cents Daily $1.25 Sundays
Showroom operator denies report of sale BY PAUL B. JOHNSON ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
MERCHANDISE MART PROPERTIES
–
Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. became one of the main players in the High Point Market 12 years ago when it bought the Market Square complex from a group of local businessmen. The Chicago-based company has become the second-largest furniture market showroom owner and operator. Merchandise Mart owns and manages 2.1 million square feet of permanent showroom and traditional exhibit space in High Point. Its showrooms include: Market Square, Suites at Market Square, Hamilton Market, Plaza Suites, Furniture Plaza and National Furniture Mart.
HIGH POINT – The second-largest owner and operator of showrooms for the High Point Market is denying a report from a business publication that the company is for sale. The business news service Crain’s reported earlier this month that Merchandise Mart Properties Inc., which runs the Market Square complex and other major High Point Market showroom buildings, is for sale. Crain’s indicated the parent
company of Merchandise Mart Properties, Vornado Realty Trust, wants to sell its Chicago-based trade showroom company for more than $1 billion. Merchandise Mart Properties instantaneously became a major player in the High Point Market 12 years ago when it bought the Market Square furniture showroom complex from a group of local businessmen. Merchandise Mart added to its furniture market portfolio during
SHOWROOM, 2A
Pre-Market kicks off BY PAM HAYNES ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
fore other buyers will see it at the High Point Market. For example, Pulaski, which has a furniture showroom in 220 Elm, gained a commitment from Macy’s for a line in its Tangerine collection at the spring Pre-Market. The line soon will exclusively appear at the Macy’s. “The reason buyers come here is because they don’t want anyone else to have it (the product),” said Ed Tashjian, chief marketing officer for Home Meridian International, Pulaski’s parent
OBITUARIES
----
SONNY HEDGECOCK | HPE
Carol Schultz, buyer from Erie, Pa., (left) listens to Lee Boone of Legacy Classics in his showroom at Plaza Suites, 222 S. Main St. company. “We introduce everything at Pre-Market. Last PreMarket was the best experience we’ve had in introducing new lines so far.” The High Point Market Authority has tried to beef up Pre-Market in recent years. It reported that more buyers and exhibitors were signed up for this Pre-Market, which ends today, since it began tracking attendance in 2007. On Monday, exhibitors in Showplace said they had seen about the same amount of buyers as they saw at the spring PreMarket. “We set up appointments with some of our largest accounts like we usually do,” said Carly Weiner, vice president for Dallas, Texas-based Elements International Group LLC. “So we usually know what the traffic is going to be like
when we come. But right now, it’s worth it for us to be here.” Jeff Lankford, general sales manager for Steve Silver Co., which also has a showroom in Showplace, said the company hadn’t seriously participated in Pre-Market for about four years. “We would maybe open our doors if we knew someone who was coming,” he said. But in the spring, the company decided to advertise to its major customers again that the showroom would be open for the event. “Now, it seems that more buyers – the major ones – are coming,” he said. “If five or six major accounts come to see you and you get something done, then it’s worth it.” phaynes@hpe.com | 888-3617
HIGH POINT – The issue of economic incentives is sometimes a touchy one for High Point leaders, and they have a potentially divisive decision looming. Last week, the City Council postponed taking action on a request for up to $100,000 in incentives for The Phillips Collection, a furnishings product and design company that wants to relocate its showroom, office and distribution center from E. Kivett Drive and establish a business incubator for start-up companies in the
former Rose Furniture building at 916 Finch Ave. in southern High Point. Critics have taken issue with the proposal, arguing that $100,000 is too much to give for a project expected to add only five new jobs to its current work force of 19. “We’re opposed to giving public money for a very tentative and speculative purpose,” said Norman Smith, a Greensboro attorney representing Universal Industrial Park, where The Phillips Collection is located. “We’re concerned not only with the wisdom of this, but also the legality of it.” Smith also objected to the idea
of incentives being used to facilitate a business moving from one part of the city to another, raising a point others have argued about how incentives should be used to bring in businesses from outside to economically depressed areas. Some council members said they too didn’t support the idea of using incentives for an intracity move, but like the idea of a business incubator, which could offer space for design ventures in the furniture industry. No money would be released to the company until it met certain benchmarks over a three-year period, including a business plan
YOUR COMMUNITY. YOUR NEWSPAPER.
James Bennett, 68 Debra Burns, 48 David Davenport, 53 Margaret Ellington, 99 Ida Bryant, 78 Ailean Ingram, 75 Emily Locklear, 11 Ola Lookabill, 92 Nolen Maness, 78 Reba Owens, 85 Patricia Ramseur, 64 Dorothy Rountree, 80 Pete Wilson, 74 Obituaries, 2B
WEATHER
----
Sunny, warm High 88, Low 60 6D
INDEX
SONNY HEDGECOCK | HPE
Beth Dixon and Melissa Shaw are all smiles as they head out to their showroom at Furniture Plaza.
Incentives request raises eyebrows BY PAT KIMBROUGH ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
INSIDE
EYE ON THE PRIZE: United Way sets campaign goal. 1B
HIGH POINT – Showroom operators that opened their doors on Monday for the first day of Pre-Market, said they are hopeful that the furniture industry is slowly improving. “It’s a hard thing to gauge,” said Jacques Wayser, president of French Heritage, headquartered in High Point. “Hope only goes so far. But we’re hearing about more people coming (to Pre-Market), so that’s good.” Most exhibitors like French Heritage make appointments with their largest accounts during Pre-Market and give them a sneak peak at new product be-
Ed Tashjian Home Meridian International
Fuabeh Fonge, an associate history professor at North Carolina A&T State University, is editor–inchief of a new peer-reviewed scholarly journal. The Journal of International Studies and Development publishes original manuscripts on topics related to disciplines in international studies and practice.
----
Exhibitors hopeful that industry is improving
‘The reason buyers come here is because they don’t want anyone else to have it (the product).’
WHO’S NEWS
----
spelling out more details about the project. “We need knowledge and job stimulation in our community. This is a new concept. I do appreciate it is somewhat nebulous at this point. I am comfortable with the benchmarks. If it doesn’t work, we don’t pay anything out,” Councilman Latimer Alexander said. “We’ve got to stimulate job growth, particularly on the south side, where unemployment is (high).” The council is expected to take the matter up again at its Sept. 20 meeting. pkimbrough@hpe.com | 888-3531
ABBY 3B BUSINESS 5-6D CLASSIFIED 3-6C COMICS 5B CROSSWORD 2C DONOHUE 5B FUN & GAMES 2C LIFE&STYLE 1C LOCAL 2A, 1B LOTTERY 2A MOVIES 6B NEIGHBORS 4B NATION 6A, 6B, 6D NOTABLES 6B OBITUARIES 2B OPINION 4A SPORTS 1-3D STATE 2-3A, 3B STOCKS 5D TV 6B WEATHER 6D WORLD 5A
INFO Circulation Classified Newsroom Newsroom fax
888-3511 888-3555 888-3527 888-3644