What Really Happens at Market

Each year, our team travels to Dallas for Market in January to browse new decor for our store. As a home decor store, we recognize this experience is unique and something most people aren’t familiar with, so we decided to break down what exactly happens at Market each year to give you a glimpse into the adventure.

What is Market?

For many of you reading this, you may be wondering - what even is Market? You’re not alone in your question. Market is held in Dallas, Las Vegas, and High Point, North Carolina, each year for storeowners to find the newest decor, apparel, and accessories to provide our customers with throughout the year.

At Market, our goal is to bring complete and captivating looks and pieces back home to our store - 319 Decor & Design. Each year takes a lot of planning in order to make the most of our time there and provide our customers with the most high-quality, on-trend pieces to enjoy for their own homes.

How We Prepare

Before we hit the road (or the skies) for Market, we spend a lot of time prepping for the event. This starts with searching for trends, including what colors, styles, and textures are popular and will continue to be sought after. 

We love looking back at the holiday months to see which items from our collections were the most popular. Also, we note what our customers are looking for and loving in our store so we can meet their needs. 

Leading up to Market, our team also spends a lot of time researching on Pinterest and cross-referencing big brand names in design to ensure we’re best prepared to browse the products in person.

Our Roles

Each member of our team plays a different role when we attend Market. We all have the same goal, but with unique styles and perspectives, we work together to bring a comprehensive look back to our store. It really is a team effort!

Katie, our Owner and Interior Designer, is the grounding presence for our team - seeking decor that feels traditional and timeless. Natalie, our Interior Designer, brings a quirky flair with a passion for vintage pieces. Kenadey, our Store Manager, seeks bold and booming pieces that are still versatile enough to fit in anyone’s home.

For all of us, our mission is to bring home decor that has a “wow” factor and make our customers feel like we personally shopped for each and every one of them. This means sourcing a beautiful variety of pieces that are on brand and feel cohesive in our store.

A Typical Day

One of the main questions we get about Market is what a typical day looks like. We typically hit the ground running by 7 am with coffee. It’s an absolute must for our team. In fact, we stay hydrated with coffee all hours of the day and night, typically suggested by Kenadey. Breakfast is a quick grab and go so we can get started right away!

Although we try to stick to a plan, we also love being drawn into new showrooms that catch our eye. We want to feel inspired and bring that same inspiration back home.

Most days, we are hitting between 15,000 and 25,000 steps, depending on how much Natalie swings her arms during the day. This shows how large the event really is. We also love checking and comparing our steps to each other. 

There are over 70 showrooms featuring different Christmas trees and scenes all in one place. It takes a keen eye to scout out exactly what we’re looking for amongst so many different collections. Our minds never stop running throughout the day.

Of course, we stop for a very quick lunch break before we are back on the floor until dinner time. However, the fun doesn’t stop there. We typically enjoy a sit-down spot for dinner to put our feet up for a bit. Our favorite cuisines include sushi, pizza, and street tacos. 

One of the nights, we make massage appointments after dinner because our minds and bodies are truly exhausted!

We end each day by getting cozy in our pajamas and going over every single item we saw and ordered that day. After a long day, we are all a bit delusional by this point, but who wouldn’t be after staring at over 200 Christmas trees for nine hours straight? To get a full vision for what we’ve seen, we add a photo of every piece into a PowerPoint. We cancel the items that don’t fit the overall vibe and note what we still need to order the next day.

When needed, we’ll Door Dash Cold Stone ice cream for some late-night energy. No makeup, full bellies, and girl talk is the perfect combination to wind down for the night. This year, we also had Katie’s son Mac with us, so baby snuggles are included in that list too!

Learn More

To learn more about our story at 319 Decor & Design and shop our decor from the comfort of your own home, visit our online shop or stop into our storefront in Grundy Center, Iowa. We’d love to hear any additional questions you have about the tradition of Market and our decor.