SCFMA Changes Dates For 2004 Casual Show

Furniture World Magazine

The Summer and Casual Furniture Manufacturers Association has changed the dates for the 2004 International Casual Furniture and Accessories Market in Chicago. The show will be Sept. 18-22, 2004, a Saturday-to-Wednesday schedule. The SCFMA board elected to change the dates to avoid a conflict with the Jewish holidays, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. As a result of the new schedule, the Apollo Awards banquet will be on Monday, Sept. 20, 2004. The board also established dates for the unofficial Chicago premarket in 2003. Although premarket is not sponsored by SCFMA, the association encourages members who would like to conduct a premarket to do so July 17-20, 2003, at the Merchandise Mart. “Premarket is still an unofficial event, but since so many of our members with permanent showrooms have elected to participate, we felt we needed to give order to the event by establishing dates,” said Joseph P. Logan, executive director of the SCFMA. Logan added that the established, concentrated time period will make premarketing easier and less expensive for both manufacturers and retailers. It also will allow retailers to spend more time in the temporary spaces during the Casual Show in September. Next year’s Casual Show will be Sept. 10-14 in Chicago. The Summer & Casual Furniture Manufacturers Association and the American Furniture Manufacturers Association are headquartered in High Point, N.C. – the furniture capital of the world – and together represent more than 200 leading U.S. furniture manufacturers and an additional 250 suppliers to the industry. About 80 of those manufacturers produce summer and casual products.