HIGH POINT — A High Point Market exhibitor is expanding by moving out of the IHFC and acquiring its own standalone showroom.
Mark Spicher, owner of Spicher and Company, which manufacturers artwork and flooring products, in July purchased the property at 201 N. Main St., which includes a three-story building at the corner of W. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
The seller was another Market exhibitor called Aidan Gray, which previously used the building for a showroom. The purchase price was $970,000.
Spicher, whose company is based in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, is renovating the 6,795-square-foot space and said his goal is to open it for October Market.
After having his showroom in the design area of IHFC for several years, he said, he decided to move out to have more room to display his product line, including a new design called “Rolled Goods,” which he describes as a “wall-to-wall flooring product that can be installed in very large prints.”
“We’re able to offer it to hotels, restaurants and office spaces,” he said. “This is one of the reasons why this space makes sense. We have the floor space to do a number of different designs between the different parts of the building.”
He said the current plan is for his company to occupy all three floors, but he may invite other manufacturers to exhibit in part of the space in the future.
Spicher said the building dates to the 1920s, and its historic character is one of the things that drew his interest.
He’s restoring the exterior to open more of the storefront glass on the ground floor.
“Everything we’re doing is trying to keep it very complementary to the look the building has had in the past and further enhance it,” Spicher said.
He said he explored purchasing the adjoining building at 203 N. Main St. that was occupied by longtime restaurant Jimmy’s Pizza House, but he couldn’t come to terms with the property owner. That property has been on the market since the restaurant closed in 2019.