If you remember correctly, High Point Furniture Market officials were the first to push the panic button over HB2, warning of the economic damage the bill would inflict not just on High Point but surrounding areas due to customers canceling plans to attend the spring market—which ended up suffering a slight 1 percent decline.
As the fall begins, the Winston-Salem Journal reports ‘all’s quiet on the HB2 front’:
Tom Conley, president of the High Point Market Authority, said Thursday he has not heard much discussion about HB 2 from exhibitors and buyers in terms of attending or staying away.
Bob Maricich, chief executive of International Market Centers, said he has not fielded any tenant complaints about HB2. TIMC operates the main showroom facilities in High Point and all main showrooms at Las Vegas market.
“They are focused on getting their showrooms market-ready,” Maricich said. “Preliminary registration numbers are looking strong – and that’s all good news.”
The lack of talk is intriguing given that the authority was one of the first North Carolina business groups to sound the alarm about HB 2.
The Journal speculates the lack of HB2 talk at the fall market is do to the fact that exhibitors and buyers are “trying to conduct business at the market during a still uncertain national economy.” No matter whatever social issues politicians wish to address, it’s still a save yourself economy out there, with no daylight visible.
