July 25, 1922 



Hardwood Record — ^Veneer & Panel Section 



35 



Sales Satisfactory at Grand Rapids 



Some Makers of Medium and Low Priced Furniture. Book Record Business; 



Buying of Higher Grade Lines Slow; Splendid Fall Business Predicted; 



All Attendance Records Smashed; Mid-Summer Market Healthy 



The annual midsummer furniture market at Grand Rapids, 

 which closed on July 15, is perhaps best described in the words 

 of C. S. Decker, president of the Grand Rapids Chair Company 

 and of the Grand Rapids Furniture Manufacturers' Association. 

 "This has been a very satisfactory market," declared Mr. Decker. 

 "The volume of business has not been as large as last July; com- 

 pared w^ith peak times it would seem even smaller, but I venture to 

 say that had the average exhibitor here booked in one of the years 

 from 1915 to 1918 the volume of business that he did on this 

 market he \vould have been delighted and somewhat amazed. 

 Compared with these years business has been good, and this is 

 the logical comparison to make. The boom time markets of 1919 

 and 1920 were not good for anybody. Conditions prevailing at 

 these markets were deplorable. They low^ered the standards all 

 along the line. The chief and compelling object then was only to 

 get furniture and nobody seriously concerned himself about what 

 kind. The public w^as buying headlong and would take anything, 

 and naturally this encouraged carelessness; the manufacturer gre^\' 

 careless, the buyer \vas careless, and consequently the quality of 

 furniture deteriorated. But the new conditions encourage, and. in 

 fact, compel better practices. The keen competition forces the 

 production of good values; forces attention to correctness of design 

 and to good construction and finish. 1 don't believe there was ever 

 any furniture market anywhere that offered better values for the 

 money than this market does." 



Discussing the prospects for business following the market, Mr. 

 Decker expressed the opinion that the road business would be 

 "splendid." provided conditions beyond the control of the furniture 

 industry, such as the railroad and coal strikes, should not be so 

 prolonged as to seriouly disrupt the business of the country. Mr. 

 Decker further said that he anticipated two years of good business 

 in the furniture industry. 



Business Spottad hut Good 



Business was spotted on the Grand Rapids market, as is always 

 true of any market that is not influenced by sonie extraordinary 

 state of affairs like that which affected the markets of 1919-1920. 

 Some who have had occasion to write concerning the results of the 

 niarket have painted a gloomy picture of its slowness and lack 

 of incident. But it would appear that those who have so written 

 were still suffering from the delirium of boom times and refused 

 to be consoled by anything short of the inordinate and extrava- 

 gant buying of that period. In other w^ords, those who had be- 

 come habituated to strong draughts of boom time business failed 

 to get a "kick" out of the easy going business of the present 

 market. They seemed unable or unwilling to recover their sense 

 of proportion. 



As a matter of fact, the exhibitor was rare who did not do, on 

 this mid-summer market at Grand Rapids, at least a fair business. 

 .And there were numerous cases in which all records were sur- 

 passed for volume of business booked. There is good reason to 

 believe, too, that nearly all the business booked was bonafide, for 

 there was no reason for the wholesale duplication of orders and 

 over-buying that prevailed on the 1919 and 1920 markets. Few 

 cancellations will follow this market, as it was altogether a healthy- 

 ful one. 



Speaking generally the medium and low priced lines had the 



call in Grand Rapids as they did in Chicago. Almost without ex- 

 ception those w^ho reported an extraordinary and record volume of 

 business were ntanufacturers of medium priced or cheap lines. 

 The buyers wanted "quick turn over" goods, and were loath to 

 buy the high grade, relatively high priced furniture. VC hat they 

 demanded was something to meet the present economical mood of 

 the public and they seemed much more concerned with price than 

 with the quality of the goods. However, they were not as easily 

 pleased as to quality as in the boom time markets. They de- 

 manded their "money's worth," and there were many lines pre- 

 pared to give it to them. The manufacturers in general had antici- 

 pated this situation and were showing lines on which prices were 

 figured as low as cost of production could possibly permit; and, 

 as Mr. Decker said, the values were big for the money. 

 Prices Steady Throughout Market 



This was responsible for one of the characteristic features of 

 this market, \vhich was the almost total absence of any price cut- 

 ting or price cutting rumors. The manufacturers placed their 

 lines in their show spaces at prices as low as they dared to figure 

 them and, as a consequence, prices remained steady throughout 

 the market. The only exception discovered was in the case of 

 some lines showing gate leg tables. .A small price war took place 

 in gate leg tables. But the tendency of furniture prices is now- 

 upward and changes will be made in that direction. This situation 

 is expected to stimulate fall buying. 



One of the surprises of the market was the unusually big busi- 

 ness done in upholstered furniture. The volume of business in 

 this kind of furniture was relatively much greater than that in 

 case goods. Most of the manufacturers of upholstered furniture 

 wore the "smile that w^on't come off." 



Virtually all of the makers of popular priced lines in both case 

 goods (bedroom and dining room) and parlor furniture, booked 

 business which will keep their factories humming for from three to 

 four months in advance and there seems little doubt that the road 

 business will be such as to carry these plants safely on about a 

 normal schedule to the next buying period. In fact, the furniture 

 industry has about reached normalcy. There is a possibility. ho\v- 

 ever. that business may grow in the fall to abnormal proportions. 

 The vice-president and sales manager of one of the largest case 

 goods manufacturing organizations in Grand Rapids, or the world 

 predicted that by October the trade will be crying for furniture 

 and that by December they will be crying for furniture and not be 

 able to get it. 



Many of the manufacturers exhibiting in Grand Rapids, both 

 local and out of town, believe the buyers may suffer for their 

 caution in buying -on this market. They are inclined to think 

 that the buyers underestimated the demand for furniture that is 

 likely to develop in the fall as a result of the increased buying 

 power of the public as well as the need for furnishing the vast 

 number of new homes, both apartments and individual residences, 

 that are being finished this summer. 



It was the consideration chiefly of these factors th-^t led to the 

 virtually unanimous expectation of a flourishing road business this 

 fall. No one seemed to doubt that when the salesmen rake their 

 rounds during August, September and October they are '~oir.g to 

 pack their books with orders. 



The lines of bedroom, living room and dining room furniture 



