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The consensus among exhibitors at the National Wood Flooring Association's (NWFA) 2011 Wood Flooring Convention & Expo in San Diego
was that the industry is headed for a year of modest growth, mirroring the larger new-housing market. About 1,900 people attended that event and there were 332 exhibit booths; last year in Washington, D.C., 2,544 people attended while there were 414 booths. Still, exhibitors said they conducted a steady amount of quality interaction with clients and prospective clients alike.
"Overall the show went well. I had a lot of exhibitors tell me they had a lot of business conversations, so the right people were here for them to talk to," said the NWFA's COO Michael Martin.
Exhibitors mostly echoed Martin's comments. "The show was a great success for us," said Galaxy Floor Sanding Machine's Vice President James Tasikas. "It wasn't necessarily a great volume of visitors, but they were great quality; they were the decision-makers. Things are definitely improving; we're going to have an upswing."
Convention attendees enjoy a welcome reception Tuesday evening hosted by the NWFA.
MAPEI Corp.'s Steve Lima said the wood flooring industry will likely pick up around mid-2011. "We do see some positive signs for the middle or the end of the year," he said, adding, "Hopefully it will get even better in 2012."
Roger Barker of Fortifiber Building Systems Group said he's seeing signs of improvement in certain regions. "There are some areas in the West and East that are coming back, so things are looking better there," he said.
A representative of WoodCare USA demonstrates application of oil finish.
Madison, Wis.-based Imperial Blades seemed to have a particularly productive show; it is just breaking into the wood flooring market with its replacement blades for Fein tools. Rick Knutson, the company's national sales manager, said the show was "incredible." "We got tons of leads. Our growth for 2011 will be off the charts," he said, "and it will have a big part to do with coming to the show. The wood flooring industry is untapped for us at this point."
NWFA CEO Ed Korczak offered a more specific outlook on 2011. "2011 is going to start to improve at the last half of the year," he said from the expo floor. "Remodeling will start to pick up due to pent-up demand from the consumer, so we should see about a 3% increase in the market overall by the end of 2011. By 2012 home starts should start to come back because the glut of foreclosures will be gone. Sadly, we did lose a lot of dealers that have gone out of business, but that means when the remodeling market comes back there will be more business for the dealers that are still here."
Korczak, who is retiring at the end of this year, is confident the association will continue to thrive after he has left. "I'm kind of sad that this is the last one I would be running," he said, "but I'm looking forward to a great retirement. The association is in great hands, with a great board of directors, a great staff, and I think [future executive director] Michael [Martin] is going to lead it very well."
Expo attendees inspect a UV-cured wood floor.