Furniture Market ends today

The Biz has been walking the halls of the winter Tupelo Furniture Market this week and last, talking with buyers and exhibitors. Some say they had a good market. Others say they didn’t. Read tomorrow’s Daily Journal for the full story.

And because of the inclement weather in the area today, TFM officials have cleared exhibitors to break down their booths early. They were allowed to start at noon today instead of 5 p.m. And, it’s interesting to note that many vendors were hanging around today hoping to get local people who wanted to buy their floor samples. Officially, you have to have a nametag to get it. But, if you want to go today and buy samples, I would venture to say you could get in without credentials and find a deal. But you didn’t hear that from us.

In case you’ve missed our TFM coverage in the pages of the Journal, here you are:

• TUPELO FURNITURE MARKET: ‘It’s going to be very scary’

• Restaurants, hotels say they are prepared for the furniture market

• Market opens to steady pace

• Mazer Discounts receives award

• United rep wins annual award

Furniture Market starts today

The fall show for the Tupelo Furniture Market officially starts today. Unofficially, buyers and vendors have been the roaming the halls since Monday. So has the Biz.

How are things going so far, you ask? An excerpt (full text) from today’s Journal:

The Tupelo Furniture Market’s fall show doesn’t officially start until this morning, but Ron Wanek said he had “no complaints” early Wednesday.

And for the Furniture Market, that’s good news.

Wanek is CEO of Ashley Furniture, the largest furniture source in the U.S. and largest furniture store network in the country, according to Furniture Today.

“Overall, we feel like the dealers are upbeat,” Wanek said outside of Ashley’s showroom in Building IV at the market. “They’re coming in with a good attitude as well.”

And in a tough economy, that’s news that the furniture industry can use, particularly with the housing market still suffering in many parts of the country. How housing fares, so fares the furniture industry, but Wanek said he’s seeing signs of improvement.

Furniture Market sets winter ‘09 date

The Tupelo Furniture Market has moved its winter 2009 market back to January. The decision comes after the Las Vegas market in April changed its dates to be pretty much on top of TFM’s dates (previous coverage).

An excerpt (full text) from a post on Furniture Today’s Web site:

TUPELO, Miss. – The Tupelo Furniture Market has moved the dates for its 2009 winter event to Jan. 24-28, Saturday through Wednesday.

Market Chairman V. M. Cleveland said the decision to move the dates, which had been announced as Feb. 18-22, was based on the results of a survey the TFM conducted with retailers and exhibitors.

…

He noted that the new dates “are a week or so after the Dallas market (Jan. 14-20) and a week and a half before the Las Vegas furniture market (Feb. 9-13), so as not to interfere with any of other domestic or international home furnishings venues.”

Furniture Market next week

And here’s what other people are saying about us. An excerpt (full text) from Illinois-based Furniture Style:

Times are tough in Tupelo.

The Mississippi furniture market, once a small but respectable show known for its array of upholstery and casegoods products from American upholstery furniture manufacturers, has been hit hard lately.

The first blow came from the turbulent economy and the lethargic housing market, which has significantly slowed business at many furniture stores. The effects of the economic slowdown could be seen at February’s Tupelo Furniture Market, which saw a smaller number of exhibitors than the year before.

As if that wasn’t hard enough, the market was hit again — this time by a massive tornado that ripped through the town of Tupelo on the morning of May 8, eventually hitting the front of the Mississippi Complex’s Building D, tearing off the roof and twisting the very steel frame of the building.

For more information about next week’s event, go to the market’s Web site.

NEW to open in Meridian

NEW (pronounced N – E – W not “new”) has a call center inside Building E of the Tupelo Furniture Market’s Mississippi Complex. Now, it looks like there is going to be another one in Meridian. An excerpt (full text) from the Merdian Star:

About 250 new jobs are headed to East Mississippi, Gov. Haley Barbour is expected to announce at 11 a.m. today at Mississippi State University-Meridian.

N.E.W. Customer Service Companies Inc. will house its 25,700 square-foot call center for Direct TV in Meridian off Highway 19 near the Highway 45 intersection. Most of the jobs will be front-line customer service jobs with a starting pay of $9.25 an hour, company officials said.

N.E.W. opened a call center in Tupelo in October of last year; that plant has already seen its employment nearly double. The site started with 250 jobs and now has 470, said Ray Zukowski, senior vice president, customer experience for the company.

“We like to set a community up for success, that’s why we start out at 250 jobs,” Zukowski said. “We’re a high growth company … and we’ve been around for 25 years.”

Zukowski and Donna Neale, vice president, call center operations for N.E.W., said Meridian beat out about 200 communities nationwide as the top choice to locate its new call center, making it the company’s 10th such center.

Furniture Market to merge buildings

So, in our haste to enjoy the long weekend, we neglected to post a few items, including the Furniture Market news.

The Tupelo Furniture Market decided that the time has come to consolidate the Mississippi Complex and the larger Tupelo Furniture Market Complex. Read the full story here.

Want a Toyota job? Join the club.

At CDF’s job fair yesterday, the booths for Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi and its suppliers – Auto Parts Manufacturing Mississippi and Toyota Boshoku Mississippi – were busy busy busy.

All of the reps I spoke with said they were losing their voices – and they still had three hours of the job fair left. And with an estimated 2,000 people at the fair, the inevitable question is what is Toyota looking for?

Here’s the list of qualities Toyota said it wants in its employees:

• Ability to work and thrive in an environment that is fast-paced, data-driven and emphasizes consensus decision making.
• High level of work ethic and job satisfaction.
• Strict attention to detail.
• Highly adaptable and flexible.
• Conscientious with attendance and punctuality.
• Problem-solving skills.
• Initiative.

Toyota currently is hiring (job opportunities), but will start taking the bulk of applications for its production team members later this year.

TFM: Barreto couple not vendors

After reading the stories in today’s paper about Ramone and Janet Barreto, who are charged with two counts of child neglect (full story) and allegedly ran a puppy mill south of New Albany (full story), I definitely have a different perspective on animals sold at flea markets. And, Tupelo Furniture Market officials are worried that I’m not the only one, especially after the quote in the paper from a humane society volunteer (”If you buy at the flea market, this is where your puppy was raised.”)

We spoke with a TFM official today and she said the Barreto couple has never been a vendor at the flea market held in the furniture market complex.

Drive-by: Furniture Market 5/16

A tornado last week hit Building D of the Mississippi Complex of the Tupelo Furniture Market. You can see more pictures of storm damage on 9 to 5. I drove by today and saw workers out cleaning up the mess. PS: The more you click on the pictures, the bigger they will get.

Companies looking for workers May 22

Looking for a job?

On Thursday, May 22, the Community Development Foundation, along with the Governor’s Job Fair Network, is hosting a regional job fair at the Tupelo Furniture Market from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The fair is in Hall B at the Mississippi Complex – the one at the corner of Coley and Chesterville, across from the airport.

We don’t have a list of the employers, only a comment that they range from service to advanced manufacturing.

It’s open to anybody and free, but the CDF recommends that you pre-register by calling them at 842-4521 or visiting its Web site.

Go to the Calendar of Events section to apply.