With much of the country still under Stay in Place orders until mid-May or longer, and other states (including Texas) just beginning to ease up on retail restrictions this month, the Dallas Market Center (DMC) has opted to push back the Total Home & Gift Market, typically held in late June to August.
According to DMC, the new dates “allow for retail to fully reopen; travel confidence to return; and new products to arrive.” The DMC campus will continue to host its smaller “buying events” in June while adhering to strict health and safety guidelines and social distancing measures.
Dallas Market Center, the only complete lifestyle marketplace in North America and a hub of daily commerce and global trade events for retailers and interior designers, has announced that its summer edition of Total Home & Gift Market will move from June to new dates, August 19-25, while additional, smaller format buying events will be held throughout the summer.
The Total Home & Gift Market encompasses permanent showrooms as well as temporary exhibits. The earlier summer buying events will reportedly offer retailers the opportunity to make appointments and place orders for immediate delivery items as well as fall and holiday delivery products to help refresh shelves and entice customers back into the store. Buyers are being encouraged to check with showrooms for appointments and availability prior to visiting the DMC campus.
“After careful consideration we are shifting our summer show to new dates to best serve our customer community,” says Cindy Morris, President & CEO of Dallas Market Center. “Our primary concern is the well-being of our customers, and throughout this pandemic we have been in close contact with state and local officials as well as our customer community to seek their perspective on business conditions, health and safety measures, and travel concerns. This critical input, unlike a moment-in-time survey that’s immediately outdated, has taken place in real time. As conditions changed, so did customer thoughts on planning for marketplace visits. The consensus, made even clearer after states announced their plans to get back to business, is that we should begin carefully ramping up our marketplace in sync with the reopening of retail but hold our larger events later in the summer including the Total Home & Gift Market followed by the August edition of Apparel & Accessories Market. By holding these events back-to-back over 10 days, we will spread out attendance but also allow for multi-category buying, a key Dallas advantage.”
Morris continues, “We are confident in the strict measures we have put into place in partnership with our exhibitors. In advance of the announcement by the Texas governor reopening retail, we were already instituting safeguards to support a healthy, secure, and socially distant marketplace. In addition to these measures there are also natural design features of our campus that promote minimal contact and social distancing: open parking, large entryways, quick registration in multiple areas, multiple sets of escalators in each building, wide hallways, and showrooms with controlled access to allow for the appropriate distance between customers. We will be ready when the buyers are ready — and while we know that might take some time, we are confident in our ability to balance good health and good business.”
The specific market events, on-site services, and hotel partners for August Total Home & Gift Market will be announced soon. All traditional market elements that involve close contact and/or gatherings will be adjusted or removed completely.
“We will be reaching out to our loyal buyers as well as buyers impacted by so many shows cancelling or delaying their events until later in the year,” adds Eva Walsh, EVP/Retail Development for DMC. “We understand that for many retailers their first steps are reopening their doors, restarting their sales, and then making a careful decision about visiting the marketplace. We fully expect more drive-in business for our summer events given our location within a few hours’ drive of most of the territory served by exhibitors and sales representatives. Even if buyers decide to visit for only a day or two, we will be prepared to help make their trip quick and successful.”
The Dallas Market Center officially reopens to buyers on Monday, May 4, including many open-daily Design resources. Details regarding the reopening and rigorous health and safety measures in place are available on its website.
The full schedule of summer trade events in Dallas is as follows:
June 1-2: First Monday & Tuesday
June 2-4: Apparel & Accessories Open House: select showrooms open by appointment
June 23-26: Apparel & Accessories Market, KidsWorld; Gift & Home Open House: select showrooms open by appointment
July 6-7: 1st Monday & Tuesday
July 21-23: Gift & Home + Apparel & Accessories Open House: select showrooms open by appointment
August 3-4: 1st Monday & Tuesday
August 19-25: Total Home & Gift Market
August 25-28: Apparel & Accessories Market, KidsWorld, Dallas Western Market, and Dallas Men’s Show
The complete events schedule is now posted on the DMC website’s market calendar http://www.dallasmarketcenter.com and includes appointment-driven, limited exhibitor “Open House” events as well as markets.
