DAILY JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012
BY DENNIS SEID DAILY JOURNAL
Ed Meek was a journalist. And he also knew a thing or two about marketing. It was on one of his many long drives to Jackson more than a quarter-century ago, in a Volkswagen with no air conditioning, that an idea popped in his head. “I had a legal pad and was thinking about what we could do with the furniture industry,” he said. Meek was familiar with the industry in Northeast Mississippi, where most of the state’s manufacturers and suppliers were centered. But there was no organized trade show in the state for those companies to showcase their products. Meek had some experience with trade shows with his company, Oxford Publishing, which produced Nightclub & Bar, that industry’s leading publication, as well as “The Show,” its premier trade show. Wanting to develop a trade show for the furniture industry in Mississippi, Meek polled several furniture manufacturers about his wild idea. “Fifty percent of them said yes,” he said. “The other half, mostly bigger companies, said I’d lost my mind.” But Meek wasn’t the only person thinking about the furniture industry and how to promote it. Harry Martin, then-president of the Tupelo-based Community Development Foundation and now president-emeritus, said his organization also was looking at ways to develop the economy. “We looked at industrial equipment shows, and the research and development center in Jackson told us something like that for the furniture industry ought to be in Memphis.” Enter Meek, who also had been told a furniture show was better fit for Southaven, just
Ed Meek
Tupelo Furniture Market founder outside of Memphis.. “They said Tupelo didn’t have the transportation network or the lodging for it,” he said. Meek didn’t give up on the idea. On a trip back from Alabama, he was driving through Tupelo, and dropped by the CDF office. Meek said his mind quickly turned to longtime Daily Journal publisher George McLean, who long advocated finding ways to boost the region’s economy. “I thought, George McLean would want this,” Meek said. After extensive talks with the CDF, state and local officials, furniture manufacturers and others, the beginnings of the Tupelo Furniture Market took shape. In March 1987, the market was officially organized. Six months later, the first Tupelo Furniture Market took place. A year later, two more major players, V.M. Cleveland and Lynn Davis, opened their own furniture market facilities. “V.M. came in with a lot of money and resources, took over and took the market to another level,” Meek said. “He’s done a great job with it, no doubt.” Meek worked with Cleveland for a few years, then Davis and Cleveland joined forces in 1993. As Meek helped promote the Tupelo Furniture Market in the early days, he met legendary real estate magnate Trammel Crow, who also
owned the Dallas Market Center. Meek was recruiting exhibitors for Tupelo at the Dallas Market, which at the time was one of the country’s top furniture trade shows. After hearing that Meek was recruiting for Tupelo, Crow brought Meek up to his office, telling him he needed to leave. “I didn’t have any idea who Trammel Crow was,” Meek said with a laugh. “But I know we all but put the Dallas market out of business.” Meek also remembers talking to Morris Futorian about the Tupelo Furniture Market. Futorian, regarded as the father of the furniture industry in Northeast Mississippi, never attended a market. But he offered Meek advice. “He said, ‘if you believe it, do it,’” Meek said. “After the first market, he said he knew we could make it happen.” Meek had a huge role in developing and growing the Tupelo Furniture Market, and today only watches what’s going on from a distance. Tupelo was the right thing to do at just the right time. And it still is, he said. Never mind Vegas and High Point, he said. With costs rising in China, Tupelo is poised to take advantage, Meek said. “I believe the Tupelo Furniture Market will have a tremendous resurgence because of manufacturing returning to the U.S.,” he said. dennis.seid@journalinc.com
TUPELO FURNITURE MARKET on your
Happy anniversary, Tupelo Furniture Market
think it’s fair to say the Tupelo Furniture Market has made an impact on the furniture industry. What that impact is depends on whom you talk to. But even with my limited DENNIS knowledge and exSEID perience of the market and the industry, I don’t think anyone would deny it’s made quite a ripple in its 25 years of existence. In 1987, furniture was driving the economy of Northeast Mississippi. And in many ways, it still does. At its peak, furniture manufacturing generated nearly half the jobs in the region, either directly or indirectly. Just five years ago, manufacturing drove a third of the employment in the region, and most of it was tied to furniture. But the industry was taken for granted by many living outside the area. Few people associated furniture manufacturing with Mississippi. Most people then, as they do now, look at the state as an agricultural economy. Catfish, chicken, cotton, soybeans, etc. I’ll be honest: When I first arrived in Tupelo eight years ago, I had never heard of the Tupelo Furniture Market. I had never heard about the furniture industry and how Northeast Mississippi was the “upholstered furniture capital of the world.” Truth be told, I had to figure out exactly what upholstered furniture was. Believe me – I know what it is now. And I know what case goods are, too. As you read the stories in this special section that marks the silver anniversary of the Tupelo Furniture Market, you’ll see familiar names and faces. Many are huge figures in the industry, and none bigger than Morris Futorian. It was he who kick-started furniture manufacturing in Mississippi 64 years ago. From Futorian came the
‘V.M. came in with a lot of money and resources, took over and took the market to another level. He’s done a great job with it, no doubt.’
25th Anniversary!
for your contribution to Economic Development in North Mississippi!
B & B CONCRETE CO., INC.
“Serving North Mississippi Since 1949”
130 N. Industrial Rd. • Tupelo, MS 38802
3E
likes of Mickey Holliman, Hassell Franklin and a host of future CEOs and executives who built their own furniture companies and their fortunes. Many furniture manufacturers attended trade shows to show off their products. High Point, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta – they were the places to see and be seen. Along came Tupelo in 1987, daring to dip its toes in the water, upsetting the balance. How could a little upstart upstage the big guns in the industry? Tupelo was nothing more than the biggest small spot in rural Northeast Mississippi whose biggest claim to fame was some singer named Elvis. But some entrepreneurs and innovators got together and said, “we can do this.” And they did.
Most of the big names in the industry scoffed and said Tupelo wouldn’t have a chance. But the small to mid-size companies – the ones that didn’t have the financial clout to show in the bigger furniture markets – found their niche in Tupelo. The city and the region said, “let us take care of you. Let us show the world what we have here.” The other markets took notice. Those that didn’t either no longer exist or are only a shell of what they once were. The Tupelo Furniture Market may not be the trailblazer it once was, but it still has a promising future, with an infusion of new blood and new ideas to get it back on track. And if things work out, in another 25 years, we’ll be wishing the market a happy golden anniversary.
DENNIS SEID is business editor of the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. Contact him at (662) 678-1578 or dennis.seid@journalinc.com.
TUPELO FURNITURE MARKET
YOUn! THANfoK r your visio We appreciate what you do for the community. Thank you for being you! www.dossettbig4.com www.dossettbig4.com
South Gloster TUPELO
662-842-4162 888-892-4162
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Good idea, with great execution, led to market I
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