ATLANTA -- Six showrooms were relocated in Building 1 at AmericasMart just in time for the July Atlanta International Area Rug Market. All were feted with celebratory showroom ribbon cuttings in early morning ceremonies on Wednesday, July 11.
Amer, Anadol Rug & Home, F. J. Kashanian, Liberty Rugs, Harounian Rugs International (HRI), and Safavieh all relocated to showrooms that are roughly the same size as or slightly larger than their previous spaces, according to Kevin Malkiewicz, vice president of leasing for AmericasMart. New this market is the first iteration of a fifth floor in Building 1 which will be dedicated to hospitality or commercial interior furnishings, including rugs.
As a result most rug exhibitors previously on that floor have been relocated to other floors in the building. "We just shuffled them around, and everyone is really happy with their new locations and their spaces." Malkiewicz said. Queried by RugNews.com in their new showrooms, the rug vendors were unanimously pleased.
AMER
The Amer Rugs team celebrates the grand opening of their sixth floor showroom at the summer edition of the Atlanta International Area Rug Market. From left: Mark Furlet, AmericasMart, with Amer's Tanuj Gupta, Monika Gupta, Basu Choudhary, Tania Gupta, Mahesh Choudhary, Raj Choudhary, and Anupriya Choudhary with Kevin Malkiewicz of AmericasMart.
For Amer, the move to the sixth floor (6-D-9) is welcomed. "It is a very strategic location -- right across the bridge from Building 2," said Joe Barkley, vice president of sales and marketing. "Usually you rely on appointments but we are getting a lot of walk-in traffic from people crossing the bridge and seeing us." The showroom is a little more than 6,000 square feet and Barkley says the layout is more efficient. It really couldn't be any better," he said.
ANADOL
Ummi G. Gunturk of Anadol Rug & Home and Kevin Malkiewicz of AmericasMart Atlanta celebrate the opening of the rug company's new third floor showroom with a ribbon cutting on July 11.
One who downsized is Anadol Rug & Home, which moved across the hall on the third floor and is now located at 3-E-19. "We actually had two showrooms across from each other but we really only needed this one," says Ummi G. Gunturk, sales executive. "This is much better and I like it better. It has more of a boutique feel than a showroom. It's a good location."
HAROUNIAN RUGS INTERNATIONAL
Lee Harounian of Harounian Rugs International cuts the ribbon at HRI's new Atlanta showroom at AmericasMart. Celebrating (from left to right) are HRI's Jeff Hagedorn, Greg Jordt, Deo Jugmohan, Lee Harounian, David Grasse, Diana Samuels, Nick Adler, Bob Ball, and AmericasMart's Kevin Malkiewicz.
Harounian is now located in 4-D-1 and Lee Harounian is already seeing more traffic since the move. "There are a lot of changes going on at the Mart and I'm sure more are coming, but this has been a good change for us. This floor gets more traffic than five did." He said the new showroom is slightly larger than the company's previous space.
F.J. KASHANIAN
Gilda Kashanian, lead designer, and Jonathan Kashanian, president of F.J. Kashanian pose with AmericasMart's Kevin Malkiewicz at the ribbon cutting for their new third floor showroom on opening day of the Atlanta International Area Rug Market.
Jonathan Kashanian of F.J. Kashanian said he was really happy with the exposure his company is getting at its new third floor location (3-D-22). "We love it, it's a really good location, and we're hoping it's going to translate into a big uptick in sales. The market may be somewhat slower overall, but we are getting more exposure now that we are near the escalator.
A lot of people walking by maybe did not know who were, but they see our colors in the window and come in."
LIBERTY
Father and son Jim Rash and Arman Rasheed of Liberty Rugs celebrate the opening of their new fourth floor showroom with AmericasMart Atlanta's Kevin Malkiewicz on July 11 during the Atlanta International Area Rug Market.
At Liberty Rugs, principal Jim Rash was happy with his move to space 4-E-5, where his Peshawar hand-knotted rugs, many with Oushak designs, were in full view to passersby. "We've had a decent market. We're happy with the new location. There is a fair amount of traffic and people are buying rugs. They're are coming in and placing orders. It may not be the order size that you like, but it shows the economy is getting better," Rash said.
SAFAVIEH
Safavieh moves to a larger showroom on the third floor where it showcases its cross-category lifestyle home products. At the ribbon cutting event are Kevin Malkewicz of AmericasMart with Safavieh's Debbie Coontz, Zsuzsanna Winn, Darioush Yaraghi, Arash Yaraghi, Cyrus Yaraghi, Tiffany Yaraghi and Ashley Yaraghi.
Safavieh principal Arash Yaraghi told RugNews.com the company is actually planning its new showroom's grand opening in January, but that the soft opening at the July show was already attracting new customers. "We are very excited about our third floor showroom at AmericasMart, where we are able to show more of Safavieh's lifestyle pieces as opposed to the space we had upstairs, where we were just able to show rugs," he said. "We have our furniture here, our pillows, our throws, lighting, outdoor furniture, and many of the other pieces we show in High Point and Las Vegas. We have already met with retailers who are interested in seeing our range of lifestyle products and who want to feature the total Safavieh brand story in their stores. We have many more appointments for the remainder of the market," Yaraghi continued.
COMMERCIAL DESIGN FLOOR
The fifth floor in AmericasMart's Building 1, in its nascent stages as a commercial design hub, is scheduled to debut with a grand opening in the early winter months of 2019. At this week's July International Area Rug Market, several rug companies previously located on the floor remained for now, including Jaunty, Devigiri Exports and Creative Touch.
The new floor already has several multi-line showrooms representing brands whose products are targeted at the commercial market, among them Joel Robinson & Associates and Stover Sales & Associates. Since rug manufacturers have been testing opportunities in the commercial space at shows such as Hospitality Design Expo, and BDNY and BDwest, and even NeoCon, the floor presents a new opportunity for those expanding from designer residential to contract applications such as hotels, restaurants, multi-tenant housing, country clubs and senior residences.
At this summer's market, AmericasMart also repurposed a seminar space on the fifth floor as a commercial design lounge and with a dedicated space for ASID members.