Pat Watson, vice president of merchandising at case goods and upholstery resource Hooker Furniture, joked that “traffic hasn’t been good. It’s been terrific.”

“If we weren’t seeing top customers, it wouldn’t be worth the effort,” he said.

This dining set is part of the Excursions collection that Emerald Home Furnishings is showing at this week’s High Point Premarket. It has West Indies and tropical design influences and is made with Indonesian mahogany veneers. A table and four chairs and retails at $1,199.

Hooker is showing several new collections, from Mexican-made casual dining pieces to Willow Bend, which is inspired by the farm-to-table movement.

In the Riverside Furniture showroom, Mike Charlton, senior vice president of product development and merchandising, was encouraged by the response to Belmeade, a new collection of 30 or so pieces inspired by the farmhouses of Europe. Belmeade includes bedroom, dining room and occasional pieces.

“We’ve already filled orders of this from major accounts,” he said. “We know it’s a winner.”

Charlton said he likes the two-day Premarket because it affirms what dealers like and gives his company the confidence to order it.

“We get input from a lot of our customers on product we’ve got here,” he said.

Charlton said the company was expecting to see 45 to 50 customers during Premarket, although “a couple” canceled because of the weather.

John Iasiello, vice president of wood products at case goods and upholstery resource Emerald Home Furnishings, called the traffic in his company’s showroom at Center Point “extremely disappointing.”

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” he said, blaming the weather. “Our location is problem, especially when the weather is bad.”

While temperatures were dipping below freezing in High Point Monday morning amid a bone-chilling jolt of strong winds, rain, sleet and snow, some cities around the country fared much worse. As a result, some retailers called to cancel their Premarket appointments, Iasiello and others said.

Despite yesterday’s disappointing results for Emerald, Iasiello called Premarket a positive event.

“We’ll tweak a few things based on feedback,” he said. He added that Premarket dealers reveal “voids” on their retail floors — which gives Emerald an opportunity to consider ways they might be filled.