One thing I really don’t like is dried floral arrangements. They don’t appeal to any of the senses and they make the room look worn and dated. Another absolute is an approachable staff that should be friendly and welcoming when a client enters the store. — Barclay Butera

I hate walking into a store and the first thing you see is old, tired merchandise. Too often, better stores put “sale” merchandise in the front entrance to entice customers with lower prices and promotional goods. But you get the picture: piles of discontinued, mismatched merchandise. To make it visually worse, the “sale” entrance is usually poorly displayed. Put your best presentation in the front entrance. Customers should walk in and be excited about seeing new, well thought-out displays that have a point of view. Give them the WOW, not the red tag sale! — Mark Abrams

Clutter is really a turn-off, as are doubts about what type of store it is, say, furniture or accessories. People don’t know what they’re there to buy. Having things in a vignette when it isn’t clear if they’re for sale is not only confusing, it’s pretty annoying. Bad lighting is also unfortunate — just like the restaurant in which you want to feel comfortable and welcome (and be able to read the menu), bad lighting just makes you want to leave. — Emma Gardner

When I go into a shop and the shelves are too muddled I immediately switch off! The more product thrown together on a shelf, the less inclined I am to buy. I also think that lighting is really important — it can be so awful and unwelcoming and, more importantly, distort the colour of things. In my own shop, I like to group colours together for customers. I also love finding new colour combinations to put together that people may not have thought of before. — Nina Campbell

Why do so many retailers use the same accessories — or the same price point — in all their groupings? They’d never dream of putting a $99 side table next to a $5,000 sofa — why in the world would they think it was OK to put an $89 lamp next to such an expensive piece of furniture? — Babette Holland

I know that vendors send branded fixtures to display their products and this is a terrific cost savings to stores, but too many are bad for the store. A sea of spinner racks and bad knock-down fixtures give the impression the store isn’t viable. Your store should have a style and appearance separate from the products. The fixtures should be appropriate to the various product categories in terms of size, weight and quantities so the look is never cluttered. — Paul Thompson

The biggest mistake in store display is when a store bases its visual merchandising and display around a theme as in, “I have a great idea! Let’s make the store feel like a library!” Umm… let’s NOT! A themed display is hard to execute 100% so it only gets halfway there, or it feels weak because you don’t own enough inventory to complete the theme. Themes also have a short life, as they become boring quickly. — Greg O’Neal

The right mood for your product is paramount. Unedited collections, horrible color combinations, cluttered floors, messy shelves and busy walls look indecisive and clueless. The days of throwing lots of things against the wall and hoping something will stick are over! — Doug & Gene Meyer

Don’t crowd the store so it is difficult to walk through or see the statements. Create areas where the customer can be comfortable and relax. Develop a big idea, stick to it as long as it works and, after it’s run its course, go on to the next. Don’t try to do too many things in the same space. Edit down to only the best. — Rick Janecek

Two things that drive me absolutely crazy are loud music, and disgruntled or disinterested salespeople. What about loud, abrasive music says “Relax, take your time and shop with us?” Why do retailers believe that any music played at deafening levels makes people believe you are fashionable and hip? I don’t know where that unfortunate trend began, but I will be quite happy to see its demise. — Dorian Webb

“YUCKS” are a favorite subject of mine because taste is so subjective. Walk into a KMart or Wal-Mart store. Is there anything that catches your eye… that can be considered inspiring design? Even my favorite mass retailer, Target, leaves you cold on first encounter. Can you argue with their sales philosophy? Their success? Their bottom line?

Two years ago I had the pleasure of designing my first mass-market furniture collection for Bassett Furniture Direct. To help promote the line, I did some personal appearances in their stores. There, I could hardly find the furniture on the floor. You walked into a store surrounded by confusion. Groupings were arranged in their own niche without concern for the overall impact. If you show enough product and display it right, you will make sales… otherwise you won’t. They didn’t, and it didn’t sell.

I visited their High Point showroom this past market and it was a changed scene. Sagacious Rob Spilman, the company’s president and CEO, saw the light … room settings were color coordinated, and the eye was drawn from one rich setting to the next. Merchandise seemed to have a cohesive look. Odd fits were pulled. The company understood what it was, and what it wasn’t. — Vladimir Kagan

Mark Abrams

My number one pet peeve about market is hearing so many people in our industry complain about it. I actually love market. Life is too short not to love what you do! Market is a time to connect face-to-face with the customer and some industry friends. You see new products and hopefully a trend or two. You get to show and sell what you have been working on for the last several months. Plus, the timing of markets gives me a due date. And of course, the parties are always a bonus. I may be tired at the end of the day — but a cocktail does make it more fun. — MA

Doug Wilson

The frustrating thing about markets and trade shows is the overwhelming feeling one gets just looking at the exhibition floor, then looking at the floor plan maps for help and finding them just as confusing — they look and feel like mouse mazes. You can end up walking around in circles for an hour and not get the most out of the show. It can be dizzying and repetitive. The shows would work better if there were more information stations and better signage. Even though the shows are for the trade, they should make them more user-friendly. They should also consider healthier food choices for their refreshment and food stands. No one wants to feel heavy and bogged down by junk food. — DW

Barclay Butera

A lack of risk. Most people look at the previous market and elaborate on the general theme or risk seen there, rather than taking a risk on the current one. We do something drastically different at each market, no matter what the outcome, but it always creates intrigue and interest with all buyers. I consider High Point a fashion show of “home,” and buyers are looking for the next trend. — BB

Rick Janecek

I wish more showrooms would work harder to put the show into the showrooms. Customers want to do business in showrooms that make an effort to dazzle and entertain them. The effort always pays off. — RJ

Lisa Nardone

It’s not whether one market or show is better or worse than any other. For us, it’s always shocking that it takes three days to do a setup, but just six hours to break it down. We spend so much time hanging everything, making it all look right, but by the end of a show you want to get out of there so bad it’s amazing how quickly you can break it down. New York is our biggest setup, but I live here so it’s a little easier. I do enjoy developing friendships with other vendors and people in the industry at markets. Besides being a place where you sell to buyers, you can come away with a lot of useful information on things like dealing with setup, customers, how to do something different. — LN

Greg O’Neal

My No. 1 concern in today’s marketplace is that we’ve lost the sense of urgency to “wow” our audience. We hustle and bustle for months, sometimes years, to develop new and exciting products for the new market season; then after all of the travel and effort, it finally begins. We get up and go see who’s doing what and look forward to admiring all of the newest and greatest … but more often than not, we see only a small percentage of vendors in the business now who really create a buzz or wow the passers-by, whether buyer or manufacturer or designer. For me, personally, I’m inspired to push the design envelope further when I see my industry peers doing the same. — GO

Doug & Gene Meyer

Our No. 1 pet peeve would have to be the size of these shows. Trying to shop for unique accessories at either Maison et Objet in Paris or the New York International Gift Fair is almost impossible. To us, there are two factors that make it such a headache: the first is the size, and the second is sifting and walking through so many unedited, unvetted booths. Year agos, shopping Accent on Design at the N.Y. Gift Show was a true delight; very inspiring always, with new vendors that were doing some really great product. Now it’s the same vendors year after year with the same product. It gets really boring and uninspiring. The problem for us is time — we know there are some amazing new things being designed, but to find them is like looking for a needle in a haystack. — D & GM

Doug Wilson

It has become a worldwide problem. Designers all over the globe are experiencing considerable problems with the manufacturing and importation of cheap copies of their designs from countries such as China. There is no appreciation for the design process in this practice, only for the end product which is given over to the masses. This disregard for design as intellectual property leads to the appropriation of the product concept, and it should become a concern of consumers. Ultimately, they are the ones being cheated of lasting quality; not to mention it is also illegal. If quality doesn’t become a concern, then lawsuits will. Imitation may be the most sincere form of flattery, but in the end it’s still a knockoff. — Doug Wilson

Dorian Webb

Copyright infringement is definitely a serious problem within our industry. Retailers who knowingly purchase knock-offs should shoulder some of the blame. Oftentimes, it is the smaller designers who invest in the development of new product only to have those designs stolen by larger industry players. They have the wherewithal to consolidate their costs, and to bring similar products to market more cheaply for retailers who like the look, but not the original price tag. Ultimately, it’s the customers who suffer and are disappointed by these low-cost look-alikes that offer a fraction of the quality of the original. — Dorian Webb

Barclay Butera

This issue frustrates me immensely. Design is an adaptation or interpretation of history. There are no original shapes, colors, forms, patterns or designs. Designers from hundreds of years ago created designs from centuries earlier.
The Greek Key design originated from ancient Greece and has been interpreted into rugs, trims and all sorts of textiles. Design is adapted from or inspired by heritage.
— Barclay Butera

Rick Janecek

This is a topic that I am very passionate about. When a retailer or a wholesaler copies the competitor’s product, no one wins. The company that does the original design spends a great deal of money to hire creative directors, designers, create molds and develop new technologies. The company that copies the original is stealing. The only way to sell a copy is to make it cheaper, which compromises quality. Ironically the copier usually has to sell the item at a lower margin making it difficult to be profitable. In the meantime the original design becomes so diluted that the item loses its appeal. I have found that people are becoming so desensitized to plagiarizing they don’t even realize what they are doing is stealing or that they are doing anything wrong. I know a lot of designers and buyers, who copy a design, change the color and convince themselves that they have designed the piece. Maybe we should have Oprah get a few people together. It seemed to have some effect on publishing — maybe she could do the same for the home furnishings industry. — Rick Janecek

Lisa Nardone

Whenever I see that it’s happened, it’s been so badly done that it doesn’t matter. Sure it irks me, but I’m always going to have another idea.
We’re all inspired by something, but as a designer, I take that inspiration to a different level. I have no respect for people who don’t use their own creativity to interpret it differently.
— Lisa Nardone

Nina Campbell

This is a growing issue beyond people just arriving at the same ideas simultaneously. Quite often, we are printing in the same places and weaving in the same places where there are limited colorways of thread, so things can end up looking similar. I think the key as a designer is to be very careful to document your inspirations and sources and the design process in case there are any issues. There are certainly more instances of a distinctive pattern that belongs to someone, cropping up in cheaper outlets. The trouble is that you have to be a large company to have the power to pull someone up for it and to fight it. — Nina Campbell

David Landis

It’s Big…. we are all influenced by our surroundings. Take it all in and spit it out, but it’s gotta be your own spin. — David Landis