TRANS-OCEAN AND SHAW LIVING
IN NEW HIGH POINT SHOWROOMS
ON THIRD FLOOR OF IHFC
By Lissa Wyman
HIGH POINT -- Trans-Ocean Imports, Liora Manne and Shaw Living will open new showrooms on the third floor of High Point's International Home Furnishings Center, Lee Hershberg, vice president of accessory leasing for IHFC, told Rugnews.com..
The moves were also confirmed by Charley Peck, president of Trans-Ocean, Liora Manne of Liora Manne and Kim Barta, brand manager for Shaw Living.
Trans Ocean will move from Market Square 125 to a 2,500 sq. ft. showroom at Green 365. Liora Manne, formerly at Market Square 121, will re-locate to an 800 sq. ft. showroom at Green-367, across the hall from sister company Trans-Ocean.
Shaw Living will be located in a 1,200 sq. ft. showroom on the IHFC Wrenn Wing, W-353.
All three new showrooms are in close proximity to the Third Floor Design Wing, where rug showrooms include Kaleen, Jaunty, Kas and Loloi (which shows with Straaton Industries).
Shaw Living left High Point after the Spring, 2007 market. At that time, the company did not renew the lease on its large showroom at Historic Market Square.
Trans-Ocean's and Liora Manne's move to IHFC was based on changing traffic patterns at Historic Market Square, according to Peck.
"For many years, we had an extremely spacious and comfortable showroom in Market Square, that served us well. However, the re-building of the Market Square complex adversely affected the traffic patterns in our area of the building. We look forward to seeing new customers as well as working with existing accounts in our new IHFC space."
Both Hershberg of the IHFC and Barta of Shaw Living described Shaw's move as "dipping a toe back in " at the High Point Market.
"After many years in High Point, we felt this was no longer a viable market for us. Recently, we have had a fair number of customer requests asking us to return to High Point. So we will try it again," said Barta.
Rug industry presence has been in a state of flux in recent years. In the past two years, vendors such as Couristan, Oriental Weavers-Sphinx, Harounian Rugs International, Momeni and Nourison have left the market.
Last Fall, there was some renewed interest in the High Point International Home Furnishings Market. In October, Oriental Weavers-Sphinx and Nourison had a presence at Showplace. Momeni returned to the IHFC with a 1,300 sq. ft. showroom in the third floor Pavilions. Last month, Kalaty announced it would open a permanent showroom at Market Square.
The High Point International Home Furnishings Market will run April 17 to 22, 2010.
02.23.10
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