Last month in Las Vegas was a breath of fresh Market air for both sellers and buyers. The attendance throughout the World Market Center was up from the Covid-weary events of the recent past, and the Specialty Sleep Association’s Sleep Pavilion on the 15th floor of C Building was awash with smiles, hugs, comaraderie and BUSINESS. “This market felt more normal than any since January of 2020,” said SSA Executive Director Tambra Jones. There were 27 companies exhibiting in the SSA Pavilion, 7 of which made their Las Vegas debut. There was a buzz in the room from Saturday (yes there was also an uptick in the number of buyers shopping on Saturday - before the show was officially open) to Tuesday - check out the photo gallery and you will see lots of people in lots of conversations. “As for our showroom Cash for Scan - we rang the WINNER bell 8 times this market and handed out 8 $50 bills, because we had over 400 buyer badges scanned at the front door. It was great!” (See the Winners’ Gallery) When we sort out the company duplicates (everybody wanted a chance at the $50) the actual number of buying groups scanned through the door was 335 - up 30% over January 2022 and 40% over July 2022.

We asked exhibitors to tell us about their experience in the SSA showroom this market, and asked them if they had something funny/unique/surprising to report. Tambra said, “I came face-to-face with 2 different doppelgängers! TWICE I thought somebody was somebody else - it was hysterical. I saw one of the guys a couple of days later and told him about his doppelganger. He laughed and said he was actually at a cigar bar the previous night and the server came up to him and asked if he wanted the same as he had the night before - BUT - he had not been there the night before... Obviously his doppelgänger was in town and fooling more people than just me!!” See what others had to say below.

Jane Arason for Arason Enterprises
Arason Enterprises had a great Winter Las Vegas Market. We got a lot of attention from manufacturers representatives and have already opened several stores based on the work of these reps. The show room was busy for the first 3 days and the Saturday before the show officially opened. It is becoming more like High Point in that respect. That is, busy with buyers and reps before opening day. We had a chance to see current customers, fellow exhibitor friends and made some new important industry contacts. All of the business was done Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Jody Folino for Blue Ridge Home Fashions
Our overall experience was very positive and good energy was felt throughout the event. The return of key retailers to the World Market center is very encouraging and a good indication of what is to come for NY March textile market. Productive and engaging retailer meetings. The showrooms I visited were energized with floor to ceiling tv monitors highlighting innovation and then switching Sunday to the football playoffs. Corn Toss, daily parties and photo opportunities all resulted in a fun and inspiring event. Fun fact – I got a chance to see industry mentors I had not seen in 15 plus years. They are now competitors.

Brent Polunsky for W.Silver Products
First, and most important, it was great seeing everyone. I was pleased with the number of retailers that walked through the SSA, and even more pleased at the number of current and potential dealers that I was able to visit with. The introduction of our new Split-Head Adjustable Base was a tremendous success. Overall, I think it was a very successful market.
But - I ate too many pretzels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (FYI - Auntie Anne’s Pretzels are served hot and fresh in the SSA showroom).

Juan Gonzalez for Euro-Lux Living, LLC
We had a great show. It might not have been as good as pre-covid but we definitely felt it was better than the previous ones. It may never be as good as previous pre-covid shows as so many shows in so many industries are seeing numbers drop across the board so we may never get that back. As far as an interesting anecdote we were able to go to the other show (builders show) because of the reciprocity and we may have picked up a huge account thanks to us venturing over there.

Ian Hays for Furniture For Life Massage Chairs
Winter maket was a worthwhile venture for us. The small booth space in the SSA was perfect for our needs and the team running the area was friendly, helpful and supportive. I had several meetings with high value business prospects that went very well. I will return in Summer.

Ted Singer for Kelley Global Sales
Great January show. What stands out is that being in a space with many vendors, there are always new prospects walking through looking around. The ability to have so many suppliers with new product and new innovation is an exciting space for all shoppers. Comments are always that dealers are “surprised by what is available and what is new and being introduced to the market all under one roof". This Market saw new vendors with great new ideas.

Richard Zhou for Vesgantti Mattress
It was our first show at the Las Vegas Market as a young mattress brand. On the second day of the show, I met an interesting guy from the UK who bought our mattress a few years ago. He was surprised and said he loved our mattress and did not expect to see us in this show. This might be a small thing for many well-established brands, but was significant for a young brand like us to meet an international customer in a big show like this. Although we have grown rapidly in recent years, customer satisfaction is always our priority here at Vesgantti and we will keep working hard and bring more great products to customers around the world .

Nasif Akin for Beli Plast, LLC
It was more traffic vs Summer show. More buyers and interest, to see the innovation. When there are innovative products, there is always opportunities to get attention from the buyers Despite the market situation, I could see and feel the optimism from the visitors. It was nice to see that SSA was spotlight for innovation, and the social media support from Tambra – draw sattention to our showroom.
There was another show in the town, we did not know that and when we tried to find friends who were showing in Las Vegas – we realized later that we were in a separate locations.

Ryan Cleary for Healthguard
Our experience attending the show this year was very positive. Tambra is amazing and so helpful and insightful. If not for her, we wouldn’t have known about Saturday being a soft opening. Also, her assistance in our booth as well as just generally guiding us through our first show isn’t something you can put a price tag on. We are very happy with the Specialty Sleep Association and look forward to more shows to come.
A year ago, with my team and I started at HealthGuard, we didn’t know anyone and so booking meetings / dinners with customers was a challenge. This year not only was our dance card full, we had one of our customers join us back at our Air BNB and she made us a customary Quebec meal. Now that’s special!

Jack Yang for Somnus Mattress International
It was a good experience for us. We are exhibiting at the Las Vegas market for the first time. The SSA showroom is the best for us because most of the bedding buyers come to this showroom.
SSA service is great and we love it. We will invite more customers to our booth next time.

JW “Butch” Craig for Sleep and Beyond
First and foremost thank you Tambra and SSA for a phenomenal 2023 Vegas Winter Market - the Best Since 2020. This was Sleep & Beyond market #22 in a row, with me wearing the Sleep & Beyond white Elvis shawl trimmed in gold. this Market several of the buyers said going forward you will be know as Father Of Sleep. I am OK with that as long as the buyers keep showing up market after market in the fantastic SSA show room. I am blessed and honored going forward with Sleep & Beyond being an exhibitor for many years to come.
Father Of Sleep Motto: 80% of success is showing up, and 20% follow up. And plan your work and work your plan.

Ward Mosmuller for Covestro Niaga
For me, the most exciting thing is that – even in the US 😉 – sustainability is starting to play a role in the thinking of people. Less waste, recyclability, CO2 reductions. Nice to see. The fact that I was close to Oscar Valdemoros in the Spaldin showroom across the hall was helpful for the both of us: he is applying our technology and I could assist help him.
I appreciated the ‘buzzing’ in the SSA space, not just business but also ‘gezelligheid’ (difficult to translate – but feeling at ease, comfortable, at home… etc.). Also much appreciated was Tambra and her team’s support, including the coffee and pretzels.
An interesting detail: in the morning in my hotel at breakfast, a tall man taps me on the back and says “What are you doing here, Ward.” It was Marc Dokter from Enkev. Amazing that we need to meet in Las Vegas, where we are less than 100km apart from each other home in the NL.

Harry Goodman for Boccuzzi Group
It was good to see the market up to about 80% of pre covid. Everybody was happy.
For me the thing that stood out was how great it was to see all my friends.

Peter Laurens for Baltica Naturals/Arcus Beds
We had a good return to the Las Vegas Market after a two-year, pandemic-driven absence. The lower foot traffic contrasted with the quality of the visitors--almost every party that visited my booth was serious about doing business.
After the first two days of the show, I remarked to a neighboring exhibitor about the relatively low traffic compared with pre-pandemic levels. He said that one never knows, and that some of his best clients came during the slowest shows. Shortly after we spoke my booth was visited by several different, highly interested retailers with whom I am now discussing future business.

Phil Kraus for Elecropedic
The attendance appeared to be back to pre-Covid levels. The established mattress showrooms appeared to be busier than ours. Probably dealers had a lot to catch up and did not visit our suite.
There were many long time friends that stopped by to catch up. It was great seeing them.

Lori Widelec for Phoenix Mattress / SleepTone
Winter Market as great in the beginning! The room was great. Great foot traffic on Sunday/Monday. Little foot traffic on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday were 100% dead. I would tell a first time attendee about the pre-show and give a heads up about heavy traffic days and dead days in the future.
Something that stood out for me was showing up to a vacant show space and setting up furniture by myself for 9 hours on Saturday unexpectedly!

Bill Bush for I Love Pillow/I Love Mattress
Market was very productive in terms of attendance , interest and taking action.
I enjoyed having our space mates come over and watch some football on Sunday when they had time between customers

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