Spring High Point registrations fell 8% to 75,5367.

Spring 2009 High Point Furniture Market attendance fell 8% to 75,5367 total registrations. Of those registered, 44,237 listed themselves as Buyers.

Brian Casey, President and CEO of the High Point Market Authority, was pleased with attendance in light of the current economic turmoil.

"In light of the difficult environment, the number of buyers and designers who chose to make the trip to Market this Spring is really a testament to the strength of the High Point Market and its relevance to our industry's leaders," Casey sad.

"We had a surprisingly good market," says Brian Sprinkles, sales and marketing manager, Whitewood Industries for example. "I guess everyone's expectations, including ours, were a little lower than normal, but they were far exceeded in the end. We made a concentrated effort, probably a four-month process leading up to Market, to reach out to accounts and continually remind them about our programs, services and products. When it came time for Market, we were on their radar. Our traffic was up in comparison to last Market, and we wrote some substantial business on our new introductions."

Dixon Bartlett, who as principle of HB2 Resources consulted for two exhibitors—Turning House Furniture and Norwalk Furniture—recounts, "Right from moment one, both of our showrooms—Turning House, which was a new launch, and Norwalk, which was a re-launch, were busy, busy, busy…and we stayed busy in both showrooms right on through Thursday morning. Folks that we were hoping to see showed up, and lots of people that we didn't expect to see showed up as well."

Adds Reyna Moore, director of marketing, Norwalk Furniture: "The High Point Market exceeded our expectations in terms of the traffic that we saw. We knew we had to be in High Point and we had certainly done everything we could as a company to put our best foot forward, but how busy we were—from Friday right through to the end of Market—was just phenomenal."

And serious they were. As Steve Crowder, chief executive officer, Guildmaster, notes, "Retailers They came to Market to work, and they were looking for something to give their stores excitement."

"We know that some 2,475 buyers returned to Market this Spring after being absent for at least a year or more," Casey says. "At the same time, we welcomed 7,807 new buyers who had never shopped High Point Market before, and more than 1,500 international buyers from around the world traveled to High Point to experience the breadth and depth of this Market. And, of the 14,769 designers shopping our Market, 2,498 did so for the first time ever."

Jeff Scheffer, president, Universal Furniture, where attendance was up 2 percent, was among those exhibitors who participated in Pre-Market that headed into Spring Market 2009 armed with products fine-tuned by the positive feedback of market leaders. "We did a lot of work prior to Market, including participating in Pre-Market where we showed the new Paula Deen collection," Scheffer says. "We blew the doors off at Market. There is a rock-star quality about Paula that created a real buzz in the Market and the product was received very well."

The Fall 2009 Pre-Market is set for September 14 to 15.