It seems consumers are setting casual, rather than formal, tables these days. According to The NPD Group's Retail Tracking Service while the tabletop category as a whole (including flatware, beverageware and dinnerware) seems to be declining/flat, the casual tabletop category seems to be faring a little better than the more formal segments. For the period of June 2007 to May 2008, casual flatware experienced a 1.0 percent in increase in sales, while fine flatware fell flat, with a 12.1 percent decline in sales.

Source: The NPD Group/Consumer Tracking Service