High Point Market Unveils Economic Report

HIGH POINT, N.C., Feb. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The High Point Market Authority (HPMA) - organizers of the world's largest home furnishings trade show, the High Point Market - releases key findings from a 2018 economic impact study, highlighting the biannual event's positive impact on North Carolina's economy. 

For 2018, the report calculates Market's annual economic impact at $6.73 billion. In 2013, a similar study showed annual economic impact of $5.39 billion.

Both studies were conducted by the Global Value Chains Center at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Their findings solidify High Point Market's standing as the largest economic event in North Carolina.

Additionally, the High Point Market report concludes that $6.73 billion in economic impact includes 42,427 jobs and $616 million in tax revenue across all levels of government, with $202 million in revenue at the state and local levels.

"These results show the tremendous impact High Point Market has on our local area as well as the state as a whole," said Tom Conley, president and CEO, HPMA.  "For 110 years, High Point Market has been fueling the economy, from small businesses and working families in the Triad, to large furniture manufacturers around the state."

The study focused only on economic factors directly connected to High Point Market, not to the home furnishings industry as a whole. The study area is defined as all counties within the 75-mile radius from downtown High Point, which includes 22 counties in North Carolina and eight counties in Virginia.

The analysis examined five different types of economic activity – spending by Market visitors, spending by the HPMA, spending by exhibitors, furniture sales generated at Market, and rents paid by exhibitors to building owners. To compute the direct economic impacts of each, the team used surveys of exhibitors and attendees, data from the HPMA, and data from the NC Department of Commerce. The direct, indirect, and induced impacts were then calculated using the IMPLAN 3.1 (IMpact Analysis for PLANners) software.

The report was prepared by T. William Lester, the analyst responsible for the 2013 report. The 2018 findings were announced today at a press conference held at the North Carolina Legislative Building, with remarks from Conley and Doug Bassett, chairman of the government relations committee for the HPMA board of directors, vice chairman of the HPMA board, and president of Vaughan Bassett Furniture.

Link to the full report.

Contact:
Ashley Grigg
[email protected]

SOURCE High Point Market