HIGH POINT -- Smith Leonard, furniture consultants, reported that new furniture orders jumped 16% in April, largely due to earlier dates for the biannual High Point Furniture Market.

"We recently completed our monthly survey of residential furniture manufacturers and distributors. As we expected, the results for April to April comparisons were quite different due to the significant difference in High Point market dates. The April 2010 market dates were April 17 through the 22nd while April 2011 dates were the 2nd through the 7th."

That said, Smith Leonard noted, "April may not have been all market related. Approximately 73% of the participants (of the firm's monthly survey) reported increased orders in April, with several reporting significant double digit growth in orders."

Year-to-date, orders are up 7% through April 2011. Last year at this time, new orders were up 10%.

Smith Leonard also noted that the number of factory and warehouse employees was even with March 2011 but down 2% compared to April 2010.

Posted by Rich Christianson.