(AT LAS VEGAS MARKET) -- Tuesday, July 31, 2012 -- As the Summer 2012 Las Vegas Market opened yesterday with strong buyer attendance and increased occupancy consisting of more than 1,000 exhibiting companies, officials with International Market Centers (IMC) announced a strategic evolution designed to firmly position Las Vegas Market as the most comprehensive buying platform in the western United States. The three-phase plan, which begins in 2013, will afford buyers and sellers new opportunities in the furnishings, gift and home décor channels across the 5 million square-foot World Market Center Las Vegas campus.

Beginning with the Winter 2013 Las Vegas Market, buyers and exhibitors alike will benefit from a re-merchandised, reinvigorated marketplace that will deliver a greater concentration of complementary resources in each building-ultimately providing a more effective, efficient experience for market participants.

IMC will designate 1.7 million square-feet of Building C for gift and home décor resources at Las Vegas Market, allowing for growth of existing gift resources and the launch of new product categories such as tabletop, home textiles and lifestyle collections. As part of this re-positioning and significant industry investment, IMC will also present a collection of high-end home décor resources on C3 as an extension of the fully-leased, highly-successful B3 initiative that launched this week at the Summer 2012 Market.

Buildings A and B, along with the top floors of Building C, will present Las Vegas Market's furniture, mattress, interior design and hospitality design resources. Since the start of the year, 43 new showrooms totaling approximately 265,000 square feet of space have been leased to home furnishings companies at WMC. IMC officials expect more leading brands to join Las Vegas Market as a result of the strong value proposition for furnishings companies to see unique buyers and drive incremental business in an increasingly vibrant market experience.

In 2013, Las Vegas Market will take place Jan. 28-Feb 1, 2013 and the Summer Las Vegas Market will be held July 29-Aug. 2, 2013. In 2014, the Winter show will be held Jan. 27-31, 2014 and the Summer Market will occur July 28-Aug. 1, 2014.

World Market Center Las Vegas is an integrated gift, home and furnishings showroom and trade complex owned and operated by International Market Centers, L.P. (IMC), the world’s largest operator of premier showroom space for the furnishings, home décor and gift industries. IMC owns and operates 11.5 million square feet of world-class exhibition space in High Point, NC, and Las Vegas, and its mission is to build and operate an innovative, sustainable, profitable and scalable platform for the industries it serves. For more information, visit imcenters.com.