Behind the Scenes of Market
We just got back from 4 days at the Atlanta Market and whew! What a trip it was! We found so many new beautiful things and re-ordered a lot of your favorite lines! Many of you ask about market all the time; What’s it like? How are you not overwhelmed? How do you know what to pick? Well, we wanted to give you a little insight on how we do market!
Day 1: All about Christmas
Yes we said it, Christmas.
I know, we felt the same way. The journey up to the 18th floor was a long one with *zero* Christmas cheer. In the shop, we have usually finished introducing Christmas by the first week of November. So by January, we have packed up and are excited for a new year and refresh of our showroom! However, then Market rolls around and how can we not prepare for everyone’s favorite time of year?! So, up to the 18th floor we go and our Christmas cheer is back and bigger than we ever could have expected as we are introduced to all of the new and exciting holiday decor and accessories. We of course could not wait to think about and discover one of our staple holiday favorites: tree decor. But we also have to think about what would draw you into our store from the outside. Trish thought these would be a good idea!
Don’t worry, we didn’t get those but we did find some beautiful ornaments! This Santa is my favorite!
After draining our brains in Santa’s workshop, we thought a movie would be the perfect ending to the day. And guys, if you haven’t seen Little Women, it is amazing (it’s even better when you have the whole theatre to yourself!)!! We ended Day 1 on a high note and were definitely ready for bed!
I don’t want to give too much away but we are moving in the direction of non-traditional, yet elegant! We love the traditional red and green Christmas color palette, but we also enjoy introducing new and creative details to our trees each year. Without giving too much away, just know we think you guys are really going to like it! Do you have any guesses of what we’re working on for this year?!
Day 2: Restock!
Day 2 was all about restocking lines that we already carry! You know, you’re favorites! Think accessories, gifts, artwork and a whole bunch more! We got to start the day off with one of our FAVORITE sales reps, Robin, in the Leftbank Art showroom! They know how to make their customers feel welcome - made to order omelets? Umm, YES please! We may or may not have gone back everyday after that 🤫….If you aren’t familiar with Leftbank, we use their artwork a lot in our showroom but also for our clients and custom projects. They can customize sizes and frames, which makes it easier for us to spec items for your specific needs. Stay tuned as we showcase some pieces in our client’s homes and our showroom!
Next, we headed to pick pillows and throws! We LOVE to be cozy at Cossart, so we introduced a line of throws last Fall and boy did they do amazing! Robin had been pestering us about this line for some time now 😉 and we are so glad we got on board! Designed and manufactured in New Hampshire, Bedford focuses on creating beautiful colorful throws from novelty yarn. They really add a warm touch to beds and sofas OR make a great gift…. because who wouldn’t love curling up with a good book and one of these!?! Trish’s favorites were the new indoor/outdoor throws they just introduced. Sam’s favorites are the faux animal fur which WE WILL BE RESTOCKING and adding a new color!
After dreaming about nap time and all of the comfort coming to Cossart soon, we headed to reorder one of our favorite lines from the Fall, Nora Fleming! Nora introduced a couple new mini’s AND a new set of 3 melamine dishes that come in colors! The inch worm is a limited collection mini that benefits St.Jude Hospitals. She also did a collaboration with Peeps, which will be perfect for your Easter parties! If you guys haven’t jumped on the Nora Fleming wagon, you need to! They are great pieces for any occasion and would make a great Valentine’s gift (Hint hint guys, it’s coming up soon)! We know you’ll love each piece as much as we do.
Photo courtesy of Nora Fleming
Last but not least, we ended up at Abbiamo Tutto: a ceramics line out of Italy that we have been carrying for a couple of years. These timeless pieces are some of our favorite! This year, they introduced a Santa plate we know you are going to love for Christmas and also added some new pieces to their everyday collection! We reordered the Deer and Fish plates, but also added some fun new designs to the mix. Limoncello anyone?!
We ended the night at this AMAZING BBQ joint near Turner Field! I will tell you, if you are near the Summerhill area, you have to go to Wood’s Chapel BBQ! It is a funky twist on an All-American food! The Brisket tacos, Smoked Pork Belly Fried Rice & Beer Can Chicken were out of this world! After a long days work and full bellies, sleep came easy!
Day 3: Mixing the New & Old
The Atlanta Market offers seminars throughout the show on different trends/topics/etc. going on in the design world. Floral demonstrations, social media updates and how-to classes can be found mostly everyday. We like to attend a couple while we are there to keep our knowledge fresh. We are committed to giving you the best product and service ever and often times, we learn how to make those experiences unique during seminar! My favorite seminar this year was the 10 Easy Steps to Retail Relevance. We heard from Annette Joseph and Barbara Pederzini on ways to style our brand, curate our space and create new shopping experiences!
We then headed to order more artwork, lamps & Sam’s favorite…Jewelry! Audra Style came out with some FUN new designs and trust us, you are going to be as crazy about it as we are! We can’t wait to introduce so many different colors and styles! Here are a couple pairs that are in our order… we can’t wait until you see the rest!
The accessorizing didn’t end there. We then headed to another jewelry line that we absolutely love, ABLE! They have such a great mission behind their company and we love supporting other women-run businesses! After visiting with them, we have some BIG news…. You heard it here first folks, we will be carrying some of their clutches and wallets soon! AHH!!! We would have had pictures but Sam was too excited and forgot to take some! So stay tuned!! They’re hitting our floor soon!
Up next: Cocktails! But first we had to find them. We don’t have to count our steps to know that a lot of what we do at market is walking! There are 3 buildings of 15+ floors with sometimes 100’s of vendors on each one. Yes we know…overwhelming! Trust me, we feel that, too! It makes it easier when we know what we are looking for, but some times we aim to discover something new; so we just walk until we find it! We stumbled upon this collection of books that we are super excited for you guys to see!
Each book has different cocktail recipes throughout that will make a great gift for the martini and gin lovers in your life! Don’t worry, we didn’t leave out the tequila drinkers, we just forgot to grab a pic of that one!
And sometimes at market, you never know who you will run into going to the bathroom!
If you guys don’t know, this is Leigh Ann Tuohy and her daughter Collins! They are the family that the movie The Blind Side is based off of, about the football player Michael Oher. Seriously the nicest people ever! Serious fan girl moment! Probably better than meeting Sandra Bullock, right? We ended the night at the hotel restaurant, Sandelwood, for good wine and company.
Day 4: Can we go home now….
Although market is so fun and exciting…it can also drain you! There are so many things to see, feel and smell that usually by the last day, we are ready to head back to Perrydise! Our last morning started with coffee from Accent Decor (one of our favorite accessories lines) and a floral seminar. We realized once we got there, it was for bridal bouquets 🤔….so we escaped a little early. On the way to reorder our Field & Fleur Candles, we stumbled upon a really cool driftwood line. It definitely had a more coastal feel, BUT there were a lot of fun bowls/baskets & trinkets that we picked up. Can’t wait for you guys to see them!
We reordered our AMAZING Field + Fleur candles and added a new scent! And guys..this is going to make you want summer even more! Did we mention they were BIGGER and better than ever? They came out with a new size in the handwoven with super cute packaging.
After a whirlwind week in Atlanta, we were ready to get back to the everyday grind and our hubbies! Follow along with us on social media and subscribe to our newsletter to stay in the loop on all of our market finds. They’ll be hitting the shop soon!