Jun 27, 2011

Small retailers shopping the Dallas market expect a solid second half of 2011By Maria HalkiasDallasNews.com

While economists try to forecast the second half of this year, wholesalers at the Dallas Market Center say their customers were ready to shop.

Attendance at the market center’s home and gift show, where retailers go to stock in their stores for the fall, attracted about 50,000 retail buyers and manufacturers from 50 states and 41 countries.

As the seven-day wholesale market comes to a close Tuesday, sellers of everything from a hand-painted ceramic stool with a suggested retail price of $2,000 to a small $11 horse figurine said they saw fewer store representatives but that the buyers who were there spent more freely than a year ago.

“I had set up a lot of appointments. They all showed up, and they all placed orders. So I would call that a successful show,” said Gina Waterman, regional sales manager for Three Hands, a large home accessories showroom.

Foreign buyers, especially from Mexico, Colombia , Honduras and Panama, placed big orders, Waterman said.

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