HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) — The High Point Market generates more than $202 million a year in state and local tax revenue. Now, the state is giving back with a one-time installment of $9 million.
The $9 million will impact the 12 blocks in High Point where the market takes place, improving infrastructure and beautification.
It’s less than ten days away, and showrooms are wrapping up staging and putting the finishing touches on their displays before 75,000 people arrive.
“Recently, we really saw the need to make some capital improvements downtown and do some things that can really enhance our guest experience,” said Tammy Nagem, CEO of High Point Market.
Downtown High Point transforms twice a year in April and October into a furniture showcase mecca.
There are some needs within the market footprint the state dollars will go toward meeting.
“This is everything from: ‘We have an area of town where we still have to bury the powerlines, and there needs to be sewer work.’ Sidewalks need improvement, pedestrian level lighting,” Nagem said.
Those infrastructure improvements are welcome news to showrooms like Universal Furniture where employees are gearing up for the market.
“It’s a unique trade show experience. You’re not walking into a building. You’re walking into a city,” Senior Vice President of Marketing at Universal Furniture Neil MacKenzie said.
Universal Furniture starts preparing for the fall market as soon as the spring market ends by displaying numerous rooms full of furniture that will be sold worldwide and using modern tools to showcase options and to show off the Triad.
Some of the money will also go toward safety and security as well as aesthetic improvements so the experience you have inside a showroom matches what you get in downtown High Point.
The initiative to get the money for the market was led by Senator John Faircloth who is from High Point, and the improvements will be made over the next few years in collaboration with the city, which will maintain them.
