Vegas Kids off to roaring start

Las Vegas— The Vegas Kids section in the World Market Center opened to bustling crowds and high energy, manufacturers reported.

After opening day, traffic started off somewhat slow each morning, but picked up a couple of hours later.

Traffic was the heaviest between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., according to KidKraft, which specializes in furniture for smaller children. KidKraft showed in Vegas after pulling out of High Point and San Francisco a few markets ago.

Almog Lieber, vice president of marketing for juvenile furniture manufacturer Berg, reported the show was "extremely busy." Lieber said he came to the show with mixed feelings, but "I was very happy to see what I saw. I thought (the market) was quite fruitful."

Lieber said many of the buyers he saw came from across the United States, not just from the West Coast, a response echoed by other vendors.

"We had Florida, and we had Washington (state)," said Delia Glass, owner of bedding resource California Kids. Glass gave the show a literal thumbs-up, saying it was "like the old days."

But about three-fourths of the traffic through Vermont Precision's showroom was people from the Rockies west, said Ted Weber, sales manager. And about 85% of his newly signed accounts were from the West.

KidKraft and Vermont Precision agreed that they don't usually get a great deal of written orders at furniture markets, and that seemed to be the case here. About half of the retailers visiting KidKraft placed an order, said Christin Leach, account manager.

The WMC Vegas Kids section featured two entrances with signage above each. Inside, the space was divided into separate showrooms, with a few exhibitors sharing one showroom. Many of the manufacturers have exhibited in High Point's Showplace Kids area, which has gotten significantly smaller during the past few markets.

"We're going to do in Vegas what we tried to do in High Point," said Joy Phillips, president of wall art manufacturer Creative Images, explaining that manufacturers wanted to give juvenile furniture buyers a centralized place to shop.

Some of these companies also used to show in a dedicated youth space in the San Francisco Mart. But in San Francisco, the space was filled only with furniture suppliers. Lieber noted that Vegas Kids included wall art, tabletop accessories and top-of-bed goods.

Phillips said there are plans to expand the Vegas Kids area after Building 2 opens in 2007. Several companies that wanted to show at the inaugural market here couldn't get space in the main building, leading WMC to create a second Vegas Kids area in its temporary World Pavilions tents.

As might be expected, there were a few glitches on opening day. One manufacturer noted that some buyers got confused after entering the Vegas Kids area. Although there is some signage indicating the separate exhibitors, many buyers initially thought it was all one manufacturer, and at least one person attempted to place a single order for product from different manufacturers. But all in all, retailers seemed pleased with the area.

"I think it's good that it's all together," said Jane Chavez of The Gingerbread Cabin in Arizona, who was shopping for accessories for her store.

Chris Light, vice president of sales for KidKraft, said the dedicated kids area was a major reason the company decided to show in Vegas. "We like being in a group like this," he said. "We all work together."

About a dozen youth manufacturers showed in the Vegas Kids area on the ninth floor of the World Market Center.