Healthcare Grabs the Spotlight at NeoCon
The focus of NeoCon, the annual contract furniture exhibition happening this week at The Merchandise Mart in Chicago has always been office furniture and furnishings, but in recent years healthcare has grabbed some of the spotlight.
Steelcase raised the bar a few years ago when it launched Nurture and opened a dedicated showroom in The Mart to display its new line of healthcare products. This year Herman Miller finally took healthcare out of the corner of its expansive third floor showroom and showcased its Brandrud, Nemschoff, and Herman Miller lines in a separate showroom on the same floor.
KI has substantial space in its 11th floor showroom for its healthcare products and Carolina was front and center in OFS Brands redesigned showroom on the same floor. Spec opened its first Mart showroom this year — also on the 11th floor.
Flooring companies such as The Mohawk Group, Tandus, Interface/Flor, and Mannington have always had showrooms in The Mart, and for NeoCon, they don’t necessarily separate out their healthcare product lines. But if you walk in the showroom and ask about healthcare, you can be sure there is someone there to talk about it and show you the goods.
Finally, The Mart management made a smart decision this year by putting all the temporary healthcare product exhibitors into one “Healthcare Pavilion” on the 8th floor. Before, you’d have to make your way through the endless corridors of the 7th and 8th floor to find them. It makes a lot of sense for them to be all together.
More to come on notable products seen at NeoCon.