TUPELO, Miss.–The furniture industry is big business in northeast Mississippi. But, for a few years, the Tupelo Furniture Market, one of the industry’s largest trade shows, was in a bit of a slump. This year, though, business is up over 30 percent and the economic impact on Mississippi may be bigger than ever.
If you own a hotel, motel, bed and breakfast, or even a vacant rental house, or maybe even just a room, you might have it filled by Thursday night. Kevin J. Seddon, the director of the Tupelo Furniture Market, said this week that 11,000 buyers had registered and he hoped every single one would show up.
That means a 32 percent increase over last year.
“The economy was an issue and that hurt housing, which hurt the furniture industry<‘ he said. “This year we feel really good about this event. We believe a lot of buyers are coming back to the market and a lot of new ones who replaced the old ones are learning about this market and instead of going to Las Vegas or North Carolina, they’re coming to Tupelo.”
Seddon said the economic impact is not limited to the furniture industry, with the high demand for accommodations and feeding all of the vendors and buyers.
“Of course, they eat and they go out and they enjoy Tupelo and visit the local attractions and so on.”
The Market is Thursday through Sunday and will feature two and a half million square feet of furniture, with at least 400 companies exhibiting.
