House-Hasson Hardware reported its January 2024 dealer market attendance jumped by more than a third over the 2023 turnout, “signaling that independent hardware stores and lumberyard dealers anticipate high sales volume in 2024,” the distributor said.
“We were pleased with last year’s turnout, but January’s Leap Into Savings market shot past what we were expecting in dealer turnout, and we also had big increases in new vendors and booths,” said Steve Henry, president and CEO of House-Hasson.
The firm said its dealer attendance increased 34% at this year’s market, which was held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville.
Market vendor attendance was up 25% over 2023, said the company, and 140 new booths were on the floor, leading to an expansion over past years of convention center floor space used by House-Hasson.
“Given what we saw at the market, it appears dealers are looking forward to robust customer traffic in their stores,” said Jason Hanegan, SVP of sales, growth, and development at House-Hasson.
House-Hasson said its next dealer market, Gateway to Summer, is scheduled June 13-15, 2024, at the Sevierville Convention Center, Sevierville, Tennessee, near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. For the first time, the company will also hold a fall dealer market in Charlotte, North Carolina. The market is scheduled for October 10-12, 2024, at the Charlotte Convention Center.
About House Hasson
House-Hasson Hardware serves some 2,500 dealers in 23 states and the Caribbean Basin. The 118-year-old, family-owned company said it has some 500,000 square feet of warehouse space at its Knoxville, Tennessee, headquarters, and 300,000 square feet at its Prichard, West Virginia, facility.