Las Vegas Market Gears Up for Gourmet Floor Launch

Las Vegas Market announced that 25 gourmet and specialty housewares brands have confirmed their intention to participate in the launch of a new permanent showroom floor dedicated to gourmet products – including housewares, tabletop and specialty food – debuting at the Summer 2015 Las Vegas Market, Aug. 2-6. 

The introduction of C11 marks the third and final phase of Las Vegas Market’s strategic growth plan to position itself as the leading buying platform for furniture, home décor and gifts in the western United States.

“Our three-year strategic plan culminates this summer with the addition of a new boutique showroom floor devoted to gourmet housewares, tabletop and specialty food resources on floor C11,” said Dorothy Belshaw, president of Gift & Home Décor, International Market Centers. 

“For its August debut, C11 will showcase a gift-oriented assortment of housewares and tabletop items, including melamine tableware, gadgets, serveware and specialty food, presenting a compelling, cross-category assortment designed to appeal to our existing gift and home décor buyers, as well as offer a new market opportunity for specialty gourmet retailers from the western region.”

Gourmet-focused product categories on C11 will include cookware, bakeware, woodenware, serveware, glassware and bar accessories, hydration products, kitchen tools and gadgets, kitchen textiles, casual tabletop, home and health items, publishing/cookbooks, and specialty foods. 

Among the 25 brands that have confirmed their intent to participate in the Summer Market are several current Las Vegas Market participants that are making a longer-term commitment to the market by transitioning from temporary exhibit space into new permanent showrooms. These include Knack3, a supplier of new and fresh approaches in melamine, acrylic and ceramic tableware; Top Shelf Glasses, a provider of hand-painted barware, wineglasses, pilsners, steins and wine stoppers; and specialty food suppliers Chukar Cherries, Columbia Empire Farms, Iveta Gourmet, New Canaan Farms, Pacific NW Gourmet and Spokandy. 

The C11 collection will enhance an impressive and growing roster of high-end and gift-driven housewares suppliers already in the market, including Alessi, Certified International, Charles Viancin, Chilewich, Couleur Nature, Corkcicle, Govino, Hester & Cook, Home Essentials, JURA, La Cafetiere, Lamson & Goodnow, Lotta Jansdotter Tabletop, Mary Lake Thompson, Menu, Picnic Time, Savora, S’well, TAG, Thomas Paul Melamine, and Umbra, among others. 

Dramatic resource growth in the gift and home décor categories resulted in the highest attendance numbers in Las Vegas Market’s nearly 10-year history at the recently concluded Winter Market in January, with overall attendance gains of 10 percent from the previous year, and a significant 21 percent increase in attendance in the gift and home décor category.

Additional highlights of the upcoming Summer Market include the celebration of the Market’s 10-year anniversary, as well as the launch of C11, the continuing growth of C5, another new permanent showroom floor for boutique home décor, high-end home textiles and accessories, and the relocation and re-imagining of the Market’s temporary exhibits to The Pavilions at Las Vegas Market, a dramatic, free-standing, climate-controlled temporary trade show space showcasing some 90,000 net square feet of innovative and emerging gift and home décor resources.