HRI OPENS SECOND HIGH POINT SHOWROOM, TARGETS TRADE While HRI's new designer focused showroom features a handful of full-size rugs, it really showcases HRI's  comprehensive sample program.

HIGH POINT, N.C. -- With the grand opening of its second High Point showroom, HRI focused on its important designer and trade business, setting up its new space to target that segment and focus on samples.

Located in Market Square Tower, HRI's showroom will also welcome shoppers who attend the Showtime Market textiles show and who maybe looking for rugs in addition to fabrics. In fact, HRI's second space is among about a dozen other area rug showroom expansions or additions debuting at the fall market (read full story).

"We added the smaller second location in Market Square and it will be open year-round," said HRI's Greg Jordt. "This expansion targets the trade, which is a real important part of our distribution, and our ability to service them."

HRI's new Market Square suite displays the company's swatch samples and a small selection of full-sized rugs.

The HRI Market Square showroom showcases swatch displays of rugs that are programmed but can be custom colored. It will also include some full-size samples. Added David Grasse, HRI managing director, "This showroom essentially demonstrates how you can sample the entire HRI program and customize it with sample sizes. We also included some full-size rugs in the new space because we want our customers to have full-size rugs available for their clients in room settings and then support that with samples from within different collections." 

Also, shoppers who stopped by the new HRI showroom were able to get a sneak peek of HRI's soon to be released collection created in collaboration with textiles designer Wesley Mancini -- who has partnered with Grasse in the past. In fact, Mancini was in the new HRI showroom during market to introduce the first design from that future collection.

"We are going to be doing something completely different -- a new venture between a couple of very important partners," Grasse said of the collaboration with Mancini.

Joining IMC's Rhonda Jackson (left) to cut the ribbon for HRI's new satellite showroom located at High Point's Market Square Tower are David Grasse, Lee Harounian, Jay Britt-Brown and Diana Samuels, all from Harounian Rugs International.