Fancy Food News Bytes
The E-Newsletter of Fancy Food & Culinary Products magazine
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Gourmet/Housewares
Product Center Inspires, Educates, Entertains This July
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Since its debut in January 2009, the Gourmet/Housewares product center at AmericasMart in Atlanta has continued to inspire and engage retailers every Market. Its open-air showroom floor plan surrounding the state-of-the-art demonstration kitchen has enabled the product center to not only showcase gourmet product, but also expand the houseware offerings-while providing unsurpassed education and entertainment.
This July, retailers will discover a broader and more diverse collection of high-end house goods and gourmet product-with the opportunity to shop nearly 200 major lines, including the two newest additions to the floor, Nordic Ware and Jura Capresso. Both companies further strengthen the housewares collection in the product center on Floor 8 in Building 2 WestWing.
Aligning with the permanent product center is an entire temporary gourmet product collection on floor 2 in the building, boasting more than 150 lines. Additionally, the strategic location of these product centers highlights the cross-merchandising opportunities with other Gift product centers as well as the Tabletop and Home entertaining categories.
In addition to the complete story the center tells through its product and merchandising, it is now also positioned to tell individual stories. The South Carolina Pavilion, which opened as part of the permanent showroom floor in January 2010, spotlights gourmet product from all parts of South Carolina, highlighting independent companies from the state.
The gourmet demonstration kitchen continues to draw massive crowds with celebrity chefs like Tyler Florence and local renowned chefs like Kevin Rathbun, Ron Eyester and Scott Serpas. And, for the first time, the product center will host an AmericasMart University (AMU) class as part of the premier educational programming offered exclusively at Market. Mary Moore, founder and CEO of The Cook's Warehouse, along with Janis Johnson, president and founder of the Gourmet Catalog, take to the kitchen stage to detail how to cross-merchandise and incorporate gourmet products into a gift store, integrating fresh product with current inventory.
For more information, visit www.americasmart.com.
