| STARK STUDIO RUGS AND PRESTIGE MILLS CUT RIBBON FOR HIGH POINT SHOWROOM
John Stark of Stark Carpets returns to High Point Market with a new showroom and new display program for vendors. |
HIGH POINT, N.C. -- Stark, which had taken a five year break from High Point Market, made its return official at the fall 2018 event, with the opening of a new showroom for its Stark Studio Rugs and Prestige Mills brands.
The new space at Market Square, suite 240, follows last spring's soft opening with a temporary location on the main floor of the building.
The Stark opening was among about a dozen other area rug debuts or expansions at the fall market (read full story).
At the showroom during last week's market,RugNews.com caught up with John Stark, who was pleased with placements for the new Stark Studio Rugs brand. "Changing the name from Concepts International to Stark has done wonders. It's doing phenomenally well," he explained. "Basically we've gone to all of our Prestige dealers, and put them in the rug business with our rack program. We've placed the rack with 200 dealers - high-end rug dealers, carpet dealers and even furniture stores are taking it."
According to Stark Studio Rugs' Taylor van der Mandele, the new showroom was key to the company's success at fall market. "We love the new space! The atmosphere in Market Square is great and we're in a good position for foot traffic. We thought that traffic was a little down due to the hurricane, but luckily many of our clients didn't fly in until late weekend so they were able to avoid any weather interruptions. Overall, we had a good show," she said.
The company officially launched a formal
rebranding campaign for area rugs one year ago at the Rug Show New York. The Prestige brand continues as Stark's designer wholesale broadloom label.
Stark Rug Studio's new retail display system is gaining traction among wholesalers.
"We've rebranded our wholesale rug division," Haynes Robinson, principal and VP product development, Stark Carpet & Fabric, told RugNews.com at the time. "It used to be Concepts International, and we've rebranded under the Stark Studio name.
"We totally revamped the line and our business model, and we're going very strongly into the wholesale rug business. We had been approaching the market from more of a retail perspective last time. Now we're addressing furniture stores and rug stores. It's from a wholesale perspective."
Stark Studio Rugs VP of sales Taylor van der Mandele makes the new showroom opening official with a ribbon cutting alongside Stark vice president Steve Codella and IMC execs.