KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasFurniture Industry to Descend on Las Vegas
Contact Reporter Edward Lawrence
A new industry opens in Las Vegas on Monday. The furniture industry will descend on this city from all over the world for the inaugural Las Vegas market. Some 50,000 people from furniture makers to furniture buyers signed up for the event starting on Monday.
On Thursday, the finishing touches were being applied to the World Market Center. The $250 million building is not open to the public. It's 1.3 million square-feet with showrooms for furniture buyers to browse. The only way the public will get a tour is in this story.
It's 10 stories of every kind of furniture you can imagine and a home designers dream. That's the design. It's where furniture store buyers and home designers will come to see the latest and best the industry has to offer.
David Gebhart leased his second floor space at the top of the escalator two years ago. The Global Views owner says, "We are getting to the point where it's time to spit polish and shine it up. Get it tagged and ready to sell." Even the company owner gets involved in these last days to prepare before the Monday show opening.
The 50,000 buyers from the United States, Europe, Asia and South America will choose what their stores will sell in the next year. From the small to the large, furniture companies want to put on a good show.
Vice President Robert Idol, of Lane Furniture, adds "For us to have one space that is uniform, for us it's wonderful." This year the Robert idol collection of furniture will be featured. "It's really about rich wood -- rosewood. There is a lot of excitement about that."
There's also excitement about the opening of the building -- 10 floors of a home-makers dreams together in one building. World Market Center spokeswoman Dana Pretner says the response from the furniture industry exceeded their expectations. "If we build it will they come? We have done the studies. We have seen the demand for this first building. The industry is ready to be a part of this show."
It will be an annual event boosting the Las Vegas economy over the summer. Las Vegas workers set it up and will take it down. Local caterers will make the food for events. Las Vegas stores will benefit, selling whatever small items are need for the displays.
The response from furniture makers was so overwhelming tents have been set up outside for an additional 100,000 square feet. The show also needed 1 million more square-feet from the Las Vegas Convention Center this year.
