The Tornado damages at the Tupelo market happened on the morning of May 8, 2008. According to them there were No injuries reported.
My blog was posted February 26, 2008 that over 3 months before the tornado occurred.

If you were talking about ice storm of 2009, that would be some great weather forecasting on the part of Tupelo Market officials considering that the ice storm happened in January 2009.
Thank you for taking the time to read the complete blog.

Since you brought it up, quite frankly I was not impressed with the January 24 – 28, 2009 Saturday – Wednesday Winter Show. Weather forecast or no weather forecast, not only were there a small number of permanent vendors not at the Tupelo market , but also there were a lot of permanent and temporary spaces that had not been leased. Weather had nothing to do with that.

Photo of the Tupelo Market Building
http://www.alabamawx.com/?p=6771

I think most of us agree fundamentally on a lot of the issues concerning the Tupelo Furniture Market.

Over the last 22 years I have witnessed businesses next door to me open and close and lock their doors as they please, regardless of their hours posted on the marquee. This disgusts me. Miraculously these same businesses suffer and close down blaming low sales volume and no customer traffic for their demise. Neither businesses nor Furniture markets can be so lenient with their open close times.

I think if exhibitors leave and close their booths and showrooms during the advertised show hours they should not be invited back. Mr. Cleveland president of the market complex said in a recent Furniture Today Article That he was disappointed in attendance; he felt that the most traffic was lost traffic by the mom-and-pop stores that could not leave their businesses for more than a few reasons.

Mr. Cleveland seems to tell my story articulately. I left for Tupelo Furniture Market after closing my store on Saturday at its scheduled 5:00PM closing time, the only time I had available. However I disagree with a response to the same article from Ken Smith President of Harden Mfg. I have to question whether you are truly in touch with your customer base. This furniture show has thrived on small independents such as my self and many other mom pop retailers. Current mid week scheduling is why far to many dealers like myself do not attend such shows. I agree that reps and Mfgs need a day or two to get back home, however reps could ideally be given Monday and or Tuesday off as an alternative. They should have written more than enough business to justify the well-deserved time off. I believe the way you presented it, makes the industry look complacent. It is my opinion that sales representatives can reasonably pick up more accounts in 4-5 show days than they he or she could ever dream of writing in an average month, and lets not forget the potential leads for business in future months.

As mentioned I personally left after closing my store Saturday and worked the show Sunday all day. I worked all week Saturday night and drove from St. Louis to Tupelo. Woke up Sunday worked that Behemoth of a building and drove back to St. Louis on Sunday night and worked the next 3 days straight after working the previous week. This idea you have quite frankly it reminds me of when employees repeatedly ask for a pay raise after repeatedly turning down extra hours on a Friday or Saturday night because they had something better to do such as a ball game or simply hang out with friends. How often do we here reps complain how business is off and then when opportunities present themselves such a the largest Midwest Furniture show in The United States they need a day off?

In our case, we work so hard for and during market week, the one day I gave them off-Sunday(intended day of rest)is spent alot of time just getting back home and preparing for the next days trip.

We hope your trip to American Wholesale is successfull, they are a great distributor.–Marty S

As a vendor I personally think the show should be shortened. Five consective days is too long. Consolidate the floor space making it quicker for retailers to see more vendors. And really, do we need purse and make-up vendors, it is a furniture show.