RETAILERS WERE WINNERS AT NHFA's 1997 ALL INDUSTRY CONVENTION

Furniture World Magazine

Planning ahead paid off for Cherie Rose, owner of The Rose Collection, San Jose, Calif. Rose registered early to attend NHFA's All-Industry Convention in San Diego August 9-12 - and her advance planning netted a $3,000 diamond tennis bracelet for her daughter, Carleen Olmstead. Carleen's name was pulled in the early registration drawing held opening night of the three-day convention. The diamond bracelet was donated by Convention Special Event Patron Standard Furniture Manufacturing. Carleen and her sister, Colleen, attended the three-day event with their mother, enjoying both educational forums and evening events, like the cocktail cruise around Coronado Island sponsored by Western Home Furnishings Association, NHFA's West Coast affiliate. Rose is WHFA's president-elect. Although the diamond tennis bracelet was the most lavish prize awarded during NHFA's 1997 convention, it was only the beginning. Richard Harrison, Harrison Furniture Co., Clearwater, Fla., also registered early and won two, free, round-trip airline tickets for travel within the continental United States. The travel award was sponsored by Shirley Martin at Travelink, the official travel agency of NHFA's 1997 Convention. In NHFA's Showcase Exhibit Hall, attendees had the opportunity to win prizes at individual booths and also to enter an NHFA-sponsored drawing by playing "Expo Bingo." Jerome James, Hafer's Home Furnishings, Manteca, Calif., won a cellular phone; Howard Haimsohn, Lawrance Contemporary Furniture, San Diego, won an electronic personal organizer; Mike Bachman, Carriage House Furniture, Menomonee Falls, Wisc., won a $200 Lands End gift certificate; and Gael Reedy, Wood World/Oak Gallery, Linnwood, Wash., won a $200 Williams Sonoma gift certificate. NHFA's biennial All-Industry Convention is designed to bring together all segments of the home furnishings industry to share ideas, experiences and concerns within the boundaries of an educational forum. Founded in 1919, National Home Furnishings Association, headquartered in High Point, is a trade association serving the specific needs of home furnishings retailers. NHFA provides essential information, government representation, professional education and training, and business and operating tools to its 3,000 members, which represent over 10,000 stores nationwide. NHFA's 1999 All-Industry Convention will be held in Boston, August 14-17, at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers.