L.A. Gift Show: Strong Turnout, Cautious Buying

Everyone muttered the same mantra at the Los Angeles Gift & Home Accessories Market: conservative, conservative, conservative.

Throughout the gift showrooms at the California Market Center, sales representatives observed that buyers were placing limited orders and keeping their eyes on moderate price points at the March 30–April 1 market.

“It’s like pulling teeth,” said Kelly Francis, a sales representative for Anne McGilvray & Co. Inc., which sells books, educational items, and plush and children’s toys.

“It is definitely more conservative,” said Carol Lang, vice president of California Marketing Associates, whose showroom represents 120 lines and occupies 40,000 square feet on the 13th floor of the CMC.

The March gift show is a minor event compared with the much larger market weeks held in January and July, when the California Gift Show also takes place at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

However, buyer attendance was up 58 percent compared with last year’s gift-show market, said Sheri Mobley, spokeswoman for the California Market Center. Part of the increase, she said, stems from the fact that there were more floors of gift showrooms open this year: five floors compared with the two floors that were open at last year’s show.

The gift and home segment is relatively new to the California Market Center, formerly called the California Mart. CalMart owner Hertz Investment Corp. struck a deal in 2001 with Dmg World Media, the Dallas Market Center and George Little Management, operators of the California Gift Show, to turn the three-building complex into a one-stop wholesale shopping resource for apparel, gift and home accessories.

As consumers stayed glued to their television sets to get the latest news on the Iraqi war and stock-market investors took a cautious attitude, gift-store owners rode in the wake of a wary economic wave.

Buyers did not place as many orders on new merchandise at the gift show, which featured scores of showrooms representing 600 lines.

Sales representatives also noticed that buyers were looking for cheaper merchandise. Stores that normally showcased expensive goods sold middle-of-the-road items. Outlets that once stocked moderate items took their wares down to the cheap and affordable.

“I’m definitely buying more conservatively and being more careful,” said Kimberly Gill, who has owned the Marian Woodford Design company in Sherman Oaks, Calif., for 34 years.

Gill said she has undertaken a new strategy. Instead of stocking her shelves with merchandise, she shows catalogs to her customers and lets them place orders for specific items through her.

“That way I don’t have to have a huge inventory,” she explained.

Many buyers were interested in freshening up their store windows and shelves without spending too much money.

“They are buying closer to the vest, and it appears they are being a little more pricesensitive,” said Mitch Wise, a sales representative who covers the Los Angeles County region for Sullivans, an importer of artificial florals, stems, bushes, wreaths, and holiday trees and trims from Asia and Europe. “In better times, they would buy something that would retail in their stores for $50 to $75. Now they’re looking at things that retail for $25.”

Wise’s colleague, Linda Teague, a sales representative for the Orange County area, concurred.

“People are making little orders to refresh their stock, but they’re not doing big orders,” she noted. “They’re trying to buy smarter and update their stores.”

Fortunately, there were a few exceptions to the conservative rule. Kevin Ryan, a buyer for Phoenix-based Paddock Pools, said his pool-and-patio store did a total reassessment of its inventory at the beginning of the year and got rid of 80 percent of its items. The store decided to dump anything priced under $9.99. Now, its gift and garden items range in price from $9.99 to $99.99.

Ryan said the store also revamped its outdoor- furniture stock. Before, its garden-furniture prices ranged from $99 to $300. Now, such merchandise is in the $200 to $500 range.

“Everyone is selling patio furniture, from supermarkets to drug stores,” Ryan said. “So we had to distinguish ourselves.”

Mary Elam and her husband, Guy, were on a buying spree. The two own 10 gift, card and home-deacute;cor stores in the San Diego area, including Elam’s Hallmark, Home Deacute;cor & More and Mary’s Secret Garden.

“I’m being very aggressive and thinking that people will be buying it eventually,” said Mary Elam, sipping on a soft drink served during the gift market’s 3 to 5 p.m. happy hour. “I think people are not traveling as much, so they are going to be spending more money on their homes and themselves.”

“Most people can’t even afford to buy the homes they live in now,” Guy Elam observed. “So they are taking better care of them and decorating.”