Partners for Life: High Point Market and Our City

The C&D Building over looking the High Point Furniture Market

Tomorrow is the last day of the fall High Point Market, and we’re so thankful for all the time our Market guests were able to spend safely shopping for their new furniture finds in our city. And as this year’s (unusual!) Market winds to a close, we are thinking once again about how thankful we are the Furniture Capital of the World just so happens to be our hometown.

Because when we think about High Point and the furniture industry, the first word that comes to our mind is partnership. In case you missed last week’s article on the furniture industry’s need for High Point and yesterday’s article on all the love they have for HPMKT, High Point sure is needed by the furniture community. This year, High Point played an especially important role in meeting the needs of the furniture industry, given our ability to stagger the days of Market and safely social distance Market guests within showrooms.

So now we think it’s time to show you the other side of that partnership: High Point needs Market too! Our friends at the City of High Point put together a video interviewing some High Point locals on just how important High Point Market is, and why that motivates them to play their part in Market’s success.

“Everybody is involved,” explains Kerry Jones, owner of Huffman Paint and Wallcoverings. “Every resident of High Point needs to have the attitude that ‘I am involved in helping Market be successful and keep on coming back to keep our city strong and healthy.’”

As a business owner, Kerry emphasized the important economic impact on local businesses that High Point Market brings.

Other members of the community, like Thomas Petty, a shuttle host for High Point Market, notes how much his involvement with Market has positively impacted his retirement in High Point.

“ sort of opens up your world,” Thomas says. “It’s a very unique, exciting, passionate place to be.”

Jamont Hammond, a leader runner at the Market, charges his staff to prepare for Market in such a way that it leaves guests and attendees with an unforgettable impression of High Point.

“When see everything that’s set up, it just makes us feel better that they get to come to a great show,” he says. His team of showroom runners sometimes log all-night shifts to make the Market showrooms come to life. “Because might be coming from New York, they might be coming from London… We want them to come to our show and enjoy themselves. We want it to be the best experience of their lives!”

And all of this teamwork, partnership, and involvement from High Point residents speaks volumes to out-of-town guests. Tu Sen, owner of 98 Asian Bistro, expresses how year after year she looks forward to seeing her Market guests return and bringing them entertainment, good food, and encouragement.

“Market people are part of my family. I don’t just serve them,” Tu says. “I know 80% of my customers.”

And Tu sums up our thoughts on High Point’s partnership with Market best when she says:

“We need them for business. We need them for our economy, at the end of the day, we all need each other.”

Because over the years, High Point’s partnership with the furniture industry has turned into a relationship. Each year, real relationships between High Pointers and Market individuals get a little stronger – from home renters to dock workers, to designers, to chefs, to wait staff, to clean-up crews, to medical professionals, to fellow grocery store shoppers, to everything in between. And when a partnership is backed by individual relationships, it leads to success for everyone involved.

So make sure to say hello to those Market guests leaving town over the next few days. Who knows? Maybe it will even spark a new friendship.

Check out the City of High Point’s video on the relationships between High Point and the furniture industry here:

Keep discovering our High Points,

The HP Discovered Team

Photo Credit | Maria West Photography

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