The Futon Expo & The Br'er Rabbit Complex

The stories I could tell. It would make your hare stand on end. You remember old br'er Bear and br'er Fox and their comical attempt to catch br'er Rabbit. The rabbit got away and the bear and fox ended up in the briar patch. Let me put it like this, the Futon Association represents about five hundred and twenty-five member companies, most of whom are in one business, selling futon furniture. Almost all of these companies benefit in some way from the thirteen years of experience the Association has in this category.

Within the Association, like any group of this size, there are some extremely divergent views on the how's, why's, what's, who's, when's and where's concerning the Futon Expo. Over the past five years the show has grown in exhibitors, exhibitor space, and attendance – except for attendance at the most recent show where numbers were down a few percentage points. The fact remains, futon furniture is the fastest growing segment in the home furnishings industry. And in a year where San Francisco and High Point attendance was off considerably why shouldn't we feel a bit of a crunch too?

Now comes the Specialty Sleep Association, according to their own press releases, ready to dig in and begin pressing hard to sell space to the futon suppliers for their show in Las Vegas. Last May's show in Scottsdale, AZ was their smallest yet, but it did happen.

I'm not sure they will be able to get enough space sold to pull off the 1998 show in Las Vegas. With Futon Association International locked into New Orleans, and with a constituency that has picked this city as the number one site for the show, I don't see the Association moving anywhere else this year.

What could happen would be a repeat of this year's situation which would have the SSA attempt to co-locate their show in a smaller venue in New Orleans. Many of the people I've spoken to lately really don't have a problem with this scenario. What finally shakes out is still under discussion and will hopefully be resolved soon.

A Head Of His Time

Last Autumn we used an image by Rod Northcut that is the property of Right-On Futon of Chicago. Mark Bello, President of Right-On sent us the good news last November. Hey its only taken us seven months to straighten this out. How long is that in dog years?

FL