MMPI gift shows start in LA, Chicago

Retailers on the move

Good reads

Gift and home people

Current and upcoming gift markets

MMPI gift shows start in LA, Chicago

 Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. has two gift and home shows running this week. In Los Angeles, where the show runs until July 20, the L.A. Mart welcomed seven new showrooms: Accessories to Go (suite 502), Gorgeous Design (548), Jim Marvin (966), Latin Treasures (354), Necessities (168), Westland Giftware (458) and H2M Trading (542-A, opening later this summer). The California Gift Show, which MMPI acquired from dmg world media in May, is running concurrently at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

On Friday, July 17 at 3:30 p.m. PDT, Jen Bilik, owner and founder of Knock Knock, speaks on "Sell More with Fun, Humor and Honesty" in the L.A. Mart. Knock Knock produces witty, design-driven books, gifts and stationery products, which are sold in 3,500 stores in the United States. Gift and Home Channel contributor Melissa Haberstroh presents "Retail by Design: Designing Your Store's Signature Style" on Saturday, July 18 at 10 a.m. in the convention center. See the show's website for all seminars and other events.

Meanwhile, in Chicago, Lake Living returns to the 8th floor during the Chicago Market: Living and Giving, which runs to July 21. Lake Living features nautical and lodge-style decor, and casual home furnishings from Merchandise Mart sources. New for this market is the Lake House Living Lounge, where buyers can see how to incorporate environmentally friendly product into their customers' homes. Another new presentation is "Living and Giving: Green," featuring ideas, trends and products for environmentally conscious customers.

IMAX Worldwide Imports opened a new showroom on the 13th floor in suite 13-401. The move is in conjunction with the company's efforts to diversify its product line with gift-priced home décor (as reported in last week's news).

Retailers on the move

In spite of the economic news - this week the Commerce Dept. said June sales decreased at furniture stores 0.7% -- some store owners are expanding. San Diego-based Mor Furniture for Less moved into a 38,000-square-foot anchor spot vacated by Wickes Furniture in the Home Center Murrieta in Southern California. On the other side of the country, Sandy's Furniture of Vero Beach , Fla., opened a 14,000-square-foot store in Stuart. The new store is located between Carl's Furniture and Carl's Patio stores.

Two charities celebrated with a furniture store that marked its 100th anniversary. Leon's Furniture Ltd., a nationwide chain in Canada, gave gifts rather than receiving them. It donated more than $11,000 in furniture and electronics to One Kids Place and North Bay and District Hospital in Ontario province. A manager at the maternal child-care center at the hospital told the North Bay Nugget newspaper that the rockers, televisions, DVD players and tables will benefit new mothers and physicians on call.

Lara Junaid launched Cape Weaver, a new source for handcrafted African home goods from the continent. She combines her love of Africa that dates back to her youth with her years of retail consulting and marketing expertise at companies including McKinsey & Co., GE and Coca-Cola Enterprises. "I spent my childhood and teenage years in Africa," said the Philadelphia native. "Even as a young girl, I developed a passion for handcrafted items and an ever-present sense that I need to make a positive impact on the continent." Her fair-trade offerings include Zulu baskets, hand-tooled leather ottomans and contemporary paintings and sculpture.

Good reads

The New York Daily News reviewed three home décor coffee table books that retailers might want to stock. In reviewing "Downtown Chic: Designing your Dream Home From Wreck to Ravishing" (Rizzoli) by Robert and Cortney Novogratz with Elizabeth Novogratz, Jason Sheftell wrote that "the husband and wife team from Sixx Design knows how to bust things up and put them back together better than they were before." The duo will be appearing in a Bravo TV reality series.

"Show" (Glitterati Incorporated) by Ralph Pucci "takes us through every event Pucci has thrown for the last 15 years. A manufacturer of high-end mannequins like the kind you see in Saks Fifth Avenue and Barneys, Pucci turned the family business into a high-end furniture making company and art gallery."

 "Terence Conran's Inspiration" (Conran Octopus) "is the simplest form of coffee-table design book. After short introductory text for each chapter, all the pages are filled with full-size photographs detailing Conran's home décor influences. A staunch believer in eclecticism, Conran has traveled the world over in search of unique objects that can make any room. In this book, they all come together." 

Show business

George Little Management posted video highlights of its 2009 National Stationery Show on YouTube. In my opinion, this well-done marketing piece accomplishes two objectives. It gives reasons why exhibitors should exhibit and why buyers should attend. It was produced by Popstream. Next year's show is scheduled for May 16 to 19, 2010. See the video here or at the Stationery Show website. I highly recommended it.

Dallas Market Center said buyers from all 50 states and 45 countries attended its June gift show. One out of five buyers attended the June market for the first time, 70 new exhibitors participated, and 55 major buying groups were in attendance, market executives said.

Gift and home people

The Dallas Market Center and the Accessories Resource Team (ART) named five judges for the 21st annual ARTS Awards. They are: Mark McMenamin, senior editor, Interior Design magazine; Cheminne Taylor-Smith, public relations director for Metropolitan Home and Elle Décor; Dixon Bartlett, a veteran furniture industry executive and partner in HB2 Resources; Lynn Brandon, Ph.D., primary professor and coordinator of the Home Furnishings merchandising degree program in the School of Merchandising and Hospitality Management at the University of North Texas; and David Cadwallader, owner and principal designer of Cadwallader Design, Inc.

Current and upcoming gift markets

Los Angeles (July 14 to 20) and Chicago (July 16 to 22).

That's it for this week.

Bye-bye and Buy-buy.

Jim Carper

Keep up with the latest in gift and home décor at my Gift and Home Today blog, where there is a new product every day.