News

Dallas Market Center, a successful U.S. marketplace currently hosting trade events uniting buyers and sellers, has announced its official 2021 calendar that includes 31 markets and trade events—the highest number of events in more than a decade.

The number of events has increased from previous years in order to provide additional buying opportunities as well as to serve a growing number of new buyers. Dallas Market Center hosted events in 2020 with strong attendance and confident order writing in permanent showrooms and temporary exhibits. Total Home & Gift Markets in Dallas were the best attended among shows taking place in the U.S. The Apparel & Accessories Markets in Dallas became the national marketplace for brands and buyers from coast to coast. The Dallas Lighting Expo event served lighting buyers with needed new products. And daily Design traffic across 1.5 million square feet of home decor showrooms rebounded sharply to 90% compared to the previous year.

For 2021, in addition to its traditional market events the center will continue to host smaller open houses and First Monday/Tuesday events as well as new global events for commercial and architectural lighting as well as Western and English products.

“We are anticipating strong momentum continuing into 2021 as more buying and selling is done in Dallas than any other marketplace,” said Cindy Morris, president and CEO. “As a market center with tremendous flexibility we are able to respond quickly to serve buyers year-round with additional events to support their business. We are gearing up for a highly successful new year.”

In addition to in-person events, the market center continues to support omnichannel digital tools and virtual experiences for product discovery and buying anytime, anywhere. Their partnership with MarketTime, the provider of best-in-class B2B software as a service (SaaS) solutions, is accelerating the adoption of MarketTime’s unmatched business management suite for manufacturers, sales teams, and retailers. In addition, a platform for virtual tradeshows and a global B2B ecommerce marketplace for buyers will drive discovery and 24-7 commerce via thousands of products from leading brands across a wide range of product categories. A MarketTime Experience Center will be opening inside Dallas Market Center in the coming weeks.

Highlights for the 2021 calendar include four Total Home & Gift Markets, featuring hundreds of permanent showrooms and temporary exhibits showcasing gift and home, gourmet and housewares, holiday and floral. Five Apparel & Accessories Markets with the nation’s largest collection of apparel, accessories and footwear. Two editions of Lightovation, the largest residential lighting trade event in North America. And four KidsWorld Markets held inside the largest permanent marketplace in the U.S. for apparel and accessories, toys and gifts.

Dallas Market Center hosts the first U.S. markets of the year in 2021 including Total Home & Gift Market (Jan. 6-12), Lightovation (Jan. 7-10), Apparel & Accessories Market (Jan. 12-15), KidsWorld (Jan. 12-15), WESA’s International Western/English Apparel & Accessories Market (Jan. 14-17), AETA International Trade Show (Jan. 14-17), and the Dallas Men’s Show (Jan. 30-Feb. 2). Following the January events will be open houses, First Monday & Tuesday events, and spring trade events including the combined Apparel & Accessories Market + Total Home & Gift Market + KidsWorld (Mar. 23-26) followed by Spring Design Week (Apr. 5-8).

The full calendar is now available on their website and mobile app.

Supporting the comfort, health and safety of all attendees, the market center continues measures that include mandatory face covering and temperature screening for every person entering the marketplace every day. Other efforts include low contact entry via the Market FastPass, which saw a dramatic adoption in the summer, as well as enhanced cleaning with hospital grade products, hundreds of hand sanitizing stations, limited food service, no gatherings, and signage for social distancing. Along with these new steps, there are safety measures that are part of the design of the marketplace: open parking, large entryways, quick registration in multiple areas, wide hallways, multiple escalators, and showrooms with controlled access to allow for the appropriate distance between customers.

For more information, visit www.dallasmarketcenter.com.