Jan 15, 2015

Atlanta Sets All-Time Records In January Market

America’s retailers and designers are off and running toward 2015 sales armed with the newest product sourced in record volume at The Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market®, which closed its eight-day run on Tuesday, January 13, with exhibitors across the 7.2 million-square-foot AmericasMart® campus reporting the highest-volume buying since 2007.

In virtually every product category—from furniture to accessories, casual furnishings, gourmet, tabletop, holiday and floral, gift and more—order-writing was fast and furious, propelled by surging retailer optimism and fueled by hundreds of product premieres and line introductions in thousands of showrooms and exhibit booths. The Market, which opened on January 6 as the 58th-consecutive January showing under continuous Portman family ownership and management, has posted a long litany of firsts, led by the landmark opening of Building 1’s Floor 15 design-driven furniture collection making its debut to rave reviews. Other January 2015 pace-setting firsts are:

§ More design-community programming than ever, led by the opening of the permanent Designer Workspace; ASID-approved continuing education seminars and presentations from celebrated designers and thought leaders Bobby McAlpine, Susan Ferrier, Pantone, Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams and more; and the first-ever Atlanta Market Interior Design Campsummit, boasting over 600 designers in attendance

§ Opening of the new Floor 6 bridge between the Home & Rug collection in Building 1 and the Gift collection in Building 2 completing yet another path through all three

AmericasMart buildings – ultimately ending in the permanent Immediate Resources collection on Floor 7 in Building 3.

§ More than 2,000 attendees at the inaugural Party on Peachtree 2015, the home and gift industry’s newest celebration advancing the continuing work of Gift For Life (GFL) and Young Gift Executives (YGE). Hosted by AmericasMart Atlanta with presenting sponsor Poo-Pourri, the January 8 sell-out delivered the single-largest attendance for any fundraiser in Gift For Life’s 25-year history.

§ The thriving Market Temporaries highlighted by relocated collections, an increased international exposure, and myriad new exhibitors including The Grommet in its inaugural Atlanta appearance.

§ A robust and comprehensive Market programming schedule with over 150 events and seminars held throughout the campus – including in the Temporaries for the first time – and Downtown Atlanta.

ABOUT AMERICASMART

AmericasMart Atlanta is the nation’s only global wholesale marketplace housing the world’s single-largest collection of home, gift, area rug and apparel merchandise. The largest of AmericasMart’s 14 annual Markets and shows, The Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market and The Atlanta International Area Rug Market in January and July are the ignition switch for global retailing with buyers from every U.S. state and as many as 90 countries discovering product in more than 1,400 showrooms and more than 2,500 temporary exhibiting companies. ICON HONORS, the home and gift industry’s most celebrated recognition program, is produced and staged annually by AmericasMart.

Located in downtown Atlanta, the AmericasMart complex contains more than 7.2 million square feet of space. It’s a huge global stage on which manufacturers, designers and sales representatives unveil new lines, launch new designs and introduce new categories – all for the benefit of buyers seeking all that is fresh and first in the home, rug, gift and apparel arenas. For more information, please visit www.AmericasMart.com. Follow us @AmericasMartATL or @AtlantaApparel.