I did a whirlwind trip to the High Point Market yesterday, left the house at 4 a.m. and walked into the first showroom at 9 a.m., then left at 3:30 p.m. and got home at 10 p.m. Long day!

I didn't go so much to order product but to talk to industry executives about issues that affect our industry and service levels. A lot of covered about the Chinese tariffs going into place (more on that in another thread) and I checked out a few new showrooms but found nothing I wanted to order that was from new makers.

There's a lot of cookie-cutter stuff out there and I will only spend a few minutes in a showroom checking quality of the build. If I don't like the basic workmanship, I'm out of the showrooms pretty fast. In particular I searched out showrooms that some of you here ask about - brands and makers i don't carry. I don't want to name names in a forum, but there's a lot of junk out there folks. What I also observe is OTHER dealers buying some of this product and I'm pretty shocked that most of them don't know what makes a quality piece. They don't get in and under it - they talk about the style and form and price point, but don't check to see how it's made. I think a lot of them don't know what to look for quite honestly. I also ticked off a few showroom people because they are VERY hard sell and aggressive to dealers and stand in front of you so you can't get out the exit door. A typical exchange might be:

"Leaving so soon, sir? Where are you from? What can we help you with?"

"Sorry, your product isn't a match for my store, I'm just headed out" I will say.

"Why do you think that? I'm sure we can change finishes or make tweaks to work for your customers"

"No, not really. I don't care for the build quality of the pieces, they don't meet my standards"

'Sir, you are mistaken! You don't know quality goods - how long have you been in this business?"

"Thirty-two years, and I know a mortise and tenon joint from a doweled one and a dovetail joint from a bang-up, and strip-board glue-ups from wide board builds....now excuse me while I leave your showroom"

Market turnout was not very heavy from my observations, it seemed to be lightly attended which made any dealer walking into a showroom like a tuna dropped into the water in front of sharks. I prefer to be left alone and know that if I need assistance, I can find it. I'm also confident the lines I carry are still well-made and some of the better pieces out there. What was particularly surprising to me was the Hooker showroom. Hooker is 100% imported and I tell you - some of the pieces there are inexpensive and have very nice builds to them. I liked much of what they had to offer in their newer pieces and will post some photos of interesting ones here in this thread.

Didn't see much that interested me in the Bradington-Young showroom. Pretty much the same stuff they always have - The line (to me) mostly shows lack of design imagination and is uninspiring. Its decent build, but I didn't feel the need to buy anything for the floor.

The Century Showroom was a disappointment. It's brand new and was very sterile, as if thrown together very quickly. They had a lot of pieces in their showroom (I was told 2,000) but the stark white floors and lack of much design effort was underwhelming. When you go to dozens of showrooms, you have to make yours stand out if you want to catch a buyer's attention.

I missed the Taylor King showroom altogether. Ran out of time.

As usual, the Hancock and Moore showroom is fantastic and the cream of all the ones I went into. They spend a lot of time to dress the place up and it presents so nicely. They are working hard to stay on top and asked me what I needed as a dealer. I told them everything is working smoothly with the exception of custom-modified items and shipping damage repairs, which are taking far too long. They promised to add at least two new craftsman to that area as soon as they can find good talent, there's a huge shortage of qualified workers at that level and they say that for every twenty-five applicants they get, only one can meet their work standards. But hopefully there will be speed-ups in that department next year.

I took fewer photos this year than in the past, and only of pieces that I was interested in or had a story to tell. I'll post them all here over the next several days.