Two New Retailer-Focused Partnerships 
To Bolster Las Vegas Summer Market C11 Launch

Furniture World News Desk on 3/27/2015

Las Vegas Market announced that it has formed a partnership with the Housewares Training & Information Group (HTI Buying Group) will further bolster the launch of the new C11 showroom floor dedicated to gourmet housewares, tabletop and specialty food lines at the Summer 2015 Las Vegas Market. In addition, The Gourmet Retailer Magazine will host and present an educational series and networking event for independent housewares retailers attending the Summer 2015 Market, August 2-6, 2015.

“With 20+ years of kitchenware retailing experience, plus a background in the culinary industry, HTI president KC Lapiana is uniquely positioned to understand and address the issues that are of critical importance to independent gourmet retailers today,” said Dorothy Belshaw, president of Gift & Home Décor, International Market Centers. “We are fortunate to be able to forge this relationship with HTI, as the organization moves to its next level. Our cooperative efforts to develop exclusive offerings for both HTI’s western retailer members and its vendor members, are integral to the successful launch of the gourmet and housewares category in Las Vegas Market.”

HTI Buying Group today represents more than 160 retail locations nationwide and partners with more than 200 vendors to offer corporate buying programs, merchandise discounts, exclusive catalogs, freight allowances, conferences and consulting services for its members. HTI’s leadership is working with Las Vegas Market to develop specialized programs for its western retail members attending the August 2015 market. Elements of the partnership will include networking and social events, customized market tours, personalized concierge services, buyer scholarships, dynamic educational opportunities and more.

“We are very excited about extending our industry partnerships to include the Las Vegas Market,” said Lapiana, president of HTI Buying Group, and owner of In The Kitchen, a specialty kitchenware store in Pittsburgh, PA. “We have surveyed our members, and a core group of regional retailers are either committed or interested in attending this August. The exhibitor base includes some of our vendor members as well as other potential new supporters. We see this as a great opportunity to extend HTI’s visibility to both retailers and vendors.”

Beyond retail partnerships, Las Vegas is also working with The Gourmet Retailer to develop a special educational and networking program for independent housewares retailers, on Tuesday, August 4, 2015. The programming includes more than four hours of customized content, which will be developed and hosted by the magazine, including an exclusive “State of the Industry” retailer survey results, a keynote speaker addressing consumer insights and behavior trends, and two retailer panels addressing key issues and opportunities for independent housewares sellers. The event, which concludes with an hour-long networking reception, is free for retailers.

The launch of C11 marks the third and final phase of Las Vegas Market’s strategic growth plan to position itself as the leading buying platform for furniture, home décor and gifts in the western United States. In addition to the C11 opening, highlights of the upcoming Summer Market include a celebration of the Market’s 10-year anniversary, as well as the continuing growth of C5, another new permanent showroom floor for boutique home décor, high-end home textiles and accessories, and the repositioning and reimagining of the Market’s temporary exhibits as The Pavilions at Las Vegas Market, a dramatic, freestanding, climate controlled temporary tradeshow space showcasing some 90,000 net square feet of innovative and emerging gift and home décor resources. Summer Market also will mark the premiere of a casual furniture market in Las Vegas, with 250,000 square feet of permanent showrooms and temporary exhibit space on the 12th and 13th floors in Building C devoted to the casual/outdoor category.

Las Vegas Market is the leading furniture, home decor and gift marketplace in the western U.S., presenting 2,200+ gift, home décor and furniture resources in an unrivaled market destination. Las Vegas Market features thousands of gift, furniture and home décor lines, allowing for cross-category commerce among these industries. The Summer 2015 Las Vegas Market runs August 2 to August 6, 2015, at World Market Center Las Vegas. For more information, visit www.lasvegasmarket.com.

ABOUT LAS VEGAS MARKET AND INTERNATIONAL MARKET CENTERS, L.P.: Las Vegas Market is the most comprehensive furniture, home décor and gift market in the United States, presenting a unique cross-section of 2,200+ resources in an unrivaled market destination. With two markets each year, retailers and designers can shop a broad assortment of product from thousands of manufacturers of furniture, mattress, lighting, decorative accessories, floor coverings, home textiles, tabletop, general gift and more – delivering the most complete, cross-category wholesale tradeshow for the furniture, home décor and gift industries in the United States. For more information, visit www.lasvegasmarket.com. Find us on Facebook and Twitter.

Las Vegas Market is produced by International Market Centers, L.P. (IMC), the world’s largest operator of premier showroom space for the furnishings, home décor and gift industries. International Market Centers owns and operates 11.7 million square feet of world-class exhibition space in High Point, N.C. and Las Vegas. IMC’s mission is to build and operate an innovative, sustainable, profitable and scalable platform for the furnishings, home décor and gift industries. For more information on IMC, visit http://imcenters.com/.