Video: Spring Furniture Market Opens With Steady Crowds, Chinese Delegation

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TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) — The Bi annual Tupelo Furniture Market is in full swing. More than 10 thousand people are registered for the event, where buyers representing retailers worldwide place orders with manufacturers. This market also has representatives from China, hoping to do business with area companies.

There were lots of photo opps as representatives of China’s National Furniture Association toured the market.

A growing middle class in the communist country means more demand for furniture made in America and Mississippi.

“He was just in a manufacturer that was using some textiles and coverings that were sourced in China, but then some great frames and cushions and springs that were all made here in the state of Mississippi, and they produce beautiful sofas that were right sized for the Chinese market,” said Zhu Changling, president of the CNFA.

Tupelo Furniture Market owner VM Cleveland believes the partnership will mean many opportunities for Mississippi businesses.

“If we can export goods over there and they have success with them, and we are already exporting goods over there , but we just need the train to get bigger,” Cleveland said.

While the Chinese delegation wasn’t placing any orders, business was steady on the first official day of the Tupelo Spring Furniture Market.
“The market attendance has been really good, it’s really been a good show for us,” said Mark Brunsvold, of K-I-T-H Furniture.

“There’s good value in Tupelo. People overlook it sometimes because it is a smaller market, but if you’re looking for a deal, I think Tupelo has it, it’s a special niche. It’s mom and pop still, but the value is here. I mean when we come out of here we make money,” said Mark Corvin, of Kentucky based Corvin Furniture and Floor Covering.

The Market runs through Sunday.

There is also a home and accessories show in building one of the complex. That is free to the public.