Housewares

By Dolph Zaptel" Managing Director National Housewares Manufacturers Assn.

'TIHE AmeriI can housewares industry is an economic giant that is now ringing up retail sales at a record-breaking clip of more than $f 6 billion yearly. And housewares is fast coming into its own as a real profit-maker for home centers, lumber and building materials dealers.

Indeed, many of these outlets are just now beginning to recognize the growth potential that housewares offers them. It continues to expand each year, as thousands of new home-use products come onto the market in an effort to satisfy the greater-than-ever desires of America's homemakers. For millions of new and improved homes, rising standards of living and population growth, itself, have all combined to increase consumer demand for housewares.

Yet it is more than likely that a

Story at a Glance

Housewares represent a tremendous profit potential for Western retailers and wholesalers in building supply Housewares Show is largest single-industry trade show in the world and is a storehouse of display, merchandising ideas and promotional aids.

building supply field have still not discovered for themselves the vast impact of housewares. And there is no better way for them to do so than by paying a visit to our semi-annual NHMA National Housewares Exposition.

The NHMA Exposition is held eachJanuary andJulyin Chicago. It is the largest single-industry trade show in the utorld, and brings together all at one time and all in one placethe world's biggest exhibicCormick Place - the entire product output of the American housewares industrY. Gathered in 100,000 sq. ft. of display space are the exciting and dramatic exhibits of 1,500 exhibitors showing off their wares to the nation's buyers and merchandising executives.

The Housewares Exposition also is the most comprehensive merchandising exhibit ever developed for any single industry. It is a storehouse of display and merchandising ideas and promotions, and the forward-looking merchant cannot help but take home with him profit-making ideas as well as products.

The recent January Exposition set the pace for the first half of 1974 in housewares. But the coming 6lst NHMA National Housewares Expositionwhich will be held July 15-f 8 at McCormick Place in Chicagopromises to mold the industry's last-half movement. So it is not too early to urge home center merchants and lumber and building materials dealers to attend the Julv Exposition.

MERGHANDISING and display ideas abound at the semi-annual National Housewares Exoo. Show attendance regularly ex- ceeds 1 00,000: thousands of oroducts are on display.

*Dolph Zapfel has been actiue in the housewares industry for more than a quarter-century. He joined the National Housewares Manufacturers Assn. in 1948 and in 1956 was named its managing director. He is also responsible for the semi-annual National H ousewares Exposition. Each year it prouid,es display facilities for seaeral hundred thousand home-use products of nearly 3,000 housewares rnanufacturers in more than I ,400,000 sq ft of exhibit area. Total annual attendance exceeds 100.000. - Editor.

Rain and Floods Hit the West

It appears at this writing that, generally speaking, the lumber and building materials industry in the West has lucked out in avoiding extensive damage from a week of heavy rains, flooding and mud slides that hit during January.

During the heaviest part ofthe rain, there were fears that the massive damage suffered during the rain and floods of 1964 would be repeated, but fortunately, widespread lumber industry losses were avoided.

Losses to the general population in the coast states alone were put at $I0Q million and 16 lives were lost. Seven Northern California counties were declared disaster areas and Idaho Governor Cecil Andrus declared a state of emergency in three Idaho counties. Montana Gov. Thomas L. Judge declared Lincoln County and the town of Libby disaster areas as hundreds had to be evacuated from that Northwest Montana town.

Despite trackage lost at several points along its line, the Northwest Pacific RR was back to nearly normal operation by the first of this month. The California Western RR, which lost a bridge, several approaches and trackage, it is now expected to be back to normal operating condition in about 30 days.

In many cases, serious damage, other than loss of production time, was avoided by quick action. At the Fred C. Holmes Lumber Co., workers moved the lumber out of their Myers Flat, Ca., mill up onto Highway 101. They also removed the electric motors from the mill to protect them from flood damage from the rampaging Eel River. They moved as much of their log deck as was possible under the circumstances.

Farther north, at Scotia, Pacific Lumber Co. moved lumber out of the south end of their yard to avoid flood losses. Some four feet of water flooded into the remanufacturing plant of Philo Lumber Co. at Hopland, Ca., and caused damage to some of their forklifts and other machinery.

Georgia-Pacific, which operates scores of wholesale building materials distribution centers in the 13 Western states, reported no losses from the rains and flooding, according to Mel C. Carpenter, assistant to the chairman.

New Lumber Club Forms

A new Hoo-Hoo club is in the process of being formed in, appropriately enough, one of the hottest lumber markets in the West, Orange County, Ca.

Two organizational meetings have been held to formally establish the club. The first drew 22 and the second had 43 in attendance. By the time you read this, a third meeting will have been held to elect officers and a board of directors.

Among those instrumental in forming the new group are Mark Lofland, South Bay Redwood Co.; Gil Harris, Crown Cedar Co.; Nate Youmans, Empire Fence Products; Al Reynolds, LM-Wickes; and Glenn Johnson, Double J Lumber and Concrete.

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