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You have the best flatware, beautiful dinnerware, and the perfect glasses. But as they say, it's all in the details. It takes more than the basics to set today's table. Asparagus tongs, chenille table runners, resin trivets, and sensual serving dishes add the finishing touches and therefore, unforgettable finesse that comprises an elegant table for home entertaining.

Center Stage

Recent events in our country have caused people to view their friends and family members more lovingly. As a result, dining and entertaining at home have assumed extra importance. Industry representatives and manufacturers predict the table will take center stage this year as consumers fix their gaze on their homes and families.

"These events will bring out a surge of tableware purchases, as well as use of tableware that may have been stored behind locked china closet doors waiting for the special occasion that somehow never happened," said Tony DeMasi, executive director of the National Tabletop and Gift Association. "From my own observations, as well as from information gleaned from comments by NTGA members, the industry can expect to see growth in charger plates used as buffet dinner plates, coffee sets (mugs and matching dessert plates), and serving pieces."

First Layer

Table runners and tablecloths set the stage for the picture-perfect table. Making sure your inventory offers customers the options they need requires research. As consumers entertain more at home, the need to supply them with a choice of decorative accessories increases. Even consumers who purchase their meals in the prepared foods section of specialty food stores want to enjoy them at home on tables set with fresh linens and stylish tabletop. Manufacturers, cognizant of renewed interest, have been feeding this trend with new collections and fresh statements.

DeMasi explained, "Table linens are slowly making inroads again. This too can be traced to at-home dining and entertaining. Easy-to-care-for fabrics in table linens and a wide range of designs are musts. Place mat and napkin combinations are popular purchases — be they planned or impulse ones. Linens offer quick and easy ways to change the look and feel of the table's setting."

Richard Hull of Seattle, Wash.-based Richard Hull SALes agreed. He said, "Home textiles are popular again due to the influx of new collections being made available by relatively new upstart companies. It is the freshness of recent collections that has contributed to the resurgence of tabletop textiles and attracted the eyes of consumers."

Home textiles are more in tune with color trends than in the past. Manufacturers are also presenting more seasonal introductions, inspiring consumers with flexible table options. The designs of Tendence 2001 introductions incorporated rich colors to elicit "Wows" from consumers viewing fall tables. Floral patterns were also popular, with roses and poppies having obviously garnered designers' attention.

"This illustrates an important point — moderate price points in tabletop linens allow consumers to freshen up their dining or kitchen area on a more frequent basis," Hull said. "Consumers are now able to build a seasonal textile wardrobe for their dining areas."

So how should you dress your own linen section? A home fashions designer and wholesaler, Hull believes metallic textile lines are passé, while rich colors will continue. Another table linen expression Hull believes has seen its day is the trend of matching dishes to linens.

"Leave a little room for your customers to be creative with how they accessorize their dinnerware," Hull said. "I can't imaging putting a service of dinnerware on a tablecloth or mat that was made specifically for that dinnerware."

DeMasi agreed, "Mix is definitely more popular than match when it comes to dining room table linens. Linens that are perfect matches to the dinnerware's designs — usually through licensing agreements between the dinnerware's manufacturer and the linen manufacturer — are passé. Consumers are tired of trying to figure out where the plate ends and the tablecloth begins. They want contrast in colors, textures, and styles. They also want to show their own creativity."

Hull's interest lies with casual textiles created of natural fibers in damasks, tapestries, and jacquards.

"Designs like these from India allow the customer to have a more elegant approach to accessorizing with textiles without spending a lot of money," he explained. "As for colors, these fabrications seem to be following home decor color trends rather than fashion trends which appeal to consumers visually, but seldom check out at the counter."

Hull points to a continuation of rich seasonal colorations that tend to be cool and bright for the spring and summer, with warm, deeper tones for the fall. Holiday collections are rich and deep in tone, employing various shades of the typical red and green. Complementing the popularity of silver and platinum tabletop, Hull sees blue tones making their own holiday statement.

"With so much platinum and gold being used in the decoration of china from low to high end, it's not needed on the textiles," Hull continued. "The consumer has become much more savvy at purchasing holiday textiles for their dining table, looking for more texture and design that lend themselves to the total home look."

Hull recommends that retailers set their own stages with substance. In other words, display and stock a selection.

"When Mrs. Jones comes in to buy a cloth for her party on Saturday night, she's generally shopping on Friday. There's not much time for special orders in this category of retailing," he explained. "If you want to be in this textile category, service your client by offering a variety of colors, styles, prices, and stock. Telling one color story from one resource won't do it. Just like any other category, a complete story needs to be told to be effective."

The Table Top Shop in Bellevue, Wash., knows how to tell this story. The focus of this store is on moderate to high-end linens. The linens are shown by color in a horizontal format because color is customers' first priority. Owner Toots Moore explained, "We do a solid program, a print program, and a jacquard program. In those programs, we have different sizes and rounds and squares; we have 54- to 72-inch squares, 70- to 120-inch rounds, and our tablecloths run in two different widths between 63 and 70 with lengths of 90, 95, 104, 108, 118, and 144. And all of those are stocked."

In order to properly illustrate stock options, Moore creates tabletop displays in which a variety of tablecloths are layered. In the Palm Desert store, 12 display tables merchandise a range of inventory. Moore's staff includes layers of tablecloths, plus runners for each table.

"People are doing a lot of runners. You can use two of them running the length of the table in lieu of place mats," she said. "What you can do with your table is unbelievable. All of these products give your customers a chance to be creative by setting a beautiful table."

The Service

In addition to stocking an enormous table linen selection, Moore offers her customers tabletop items as well.

She explained, "My customers are looking for tablecloths, place mats, chargers, candlesticks, centerpieces, salt and pepper shakers, placecard holders, and even hostess gifts."

Diane Williams, owner of Wilmington, N.C.-based A Seasoned Gourmet, said her customers look well beyond the basics to set their tables. Sought-after accessories at Williams' store are functional items that make the transition from freezer to oven to table.

"I find many of my customers are looking for bakeware that's decorative and very functional. I am doing very well with Italian and Portuguese pottery that is very tasteful and goes with a wide variety of items on the table," Williams explained. "People are really looking for extremely functional pieces that are attractive and look pretty on the table."

Williams said her customers want decorative pieces for table service, but ones which are functional. Ceramic pie dishes with scalloped edges or pretty bread bowls that look beautiful on the table are in demand.

"People are investing in accessories that are functional for entertaining or even something nice to put on their own table for their families. Sometimes, we forget to make our own families feel special," she said. "My customers are also looking for pretty cake stands. Primarily, the covered cake stands, but they are also interested in cake stands in different sizes so they can stack them for a tiered look."

The Final Picture

No table is complete without the perfect centerpiece, but defining the perfect centerpiece is an elusive proposition.

"Martha Stewart has taught America that the 'perfect centerpiece' can be a basket of fruit, a handcut crystal bowl with floating rose petals, or a cardboard shoe box crammed with autumn leaves," DeMasi said. "The point is that individuality is the key factor. If it fits the theme or tone of the meal/setting and you think it looks nice, then that's it. Forget the etiquette books. Amy Vanderbilt and Emily Post are long dead — and so too are their rigid standards."

What's great about this wide-ranging definition is your ability as a retailer to give your customers ideas. Create your own centerpieces for your displays by cross-merchandising items in your store. Don't just stick with the traditional — for instance, display floating candles in beautiful bowls. Create a statement by placing various-sized pillar candles atop an old-fashioned cake pedestal. This becomes more than a beautiful centerpiece for the meal because the hostess can replace the candles with a cake after the dinner is cleared.

"Candles are selling better than ever. For the kitchen and dining room, unscented is the only way to go. A few years ago, candle manufacturers were touting the hominess of burning vanilla-, cinnamon-, and spice-scented candles in food-related rooms," DeMasi said. "Now, the scented candles are left in the bathroom, bedroom, and maybe the living room. Candles everywhere else are to please the eye, not the nose."

Williams agreed, "Our customers appreciate special candles. We do theme candles at Christmas — delicate angels that are 14 inches tall or simple tiered Christmas trees. Fruit-shaped candles have also been very successful for me."

Moore said her customers purchase a variety of centerpieces, ranging from candles to traditional centerpiece bowls. In creating her own centerpiece, Moore likes to mix votives with taller candleholders to create dimension.

"Candles are very important. But candles are for dinner only. You do not put candles on the table for a brunch or a lunch. You put a centerpiece on during those celebrations," she explained. "I have a lot of customers who use soup terrines for centerpieces."

While textiles and accessories for the table may not make the statement, they complete the story. These products allow your customers to express their individuality through their creativity and sense of style. Building your own in-store statements will help guide your customers to discover their own identities.

"Cross-merchandise your tabletop stories in vignettes — seasonal displays — to give the consumer the idea of a total look. That's what retailers are for, not to just sell one piece of the puzzle, but to present the entire solution to their buying audience," Hull concluded. "The more theater and visual entertainment the retailer can provide to their audience, the more successful they will be not only at the register, but at tending to a very important service to their clients — the implantation of ideas."

You can also implant table-setting ideas outside your store by leading workshops for local women's groups or community organizations. Moore's schedule was once filled with these types of events until her business responsibilities consumed all her time.

Williams merchandises her kitchen and table accessories outside the store by participating in realtor showcases. More than 150,000 potential customers get a glimpse of Williams' products as they tour homes in her local realtors' showcase event that lasts three weeks.

"I set up the kitchen and the dining areas as if someone were living there and that gives people a chance not only to see our products but see what the home would look like lived in," she explained. "It's just incredible advertising for me."

As your customers and your community entertain closer to home, be sure your own table is set for their arrival. If you already created your table, be sure to check your community's dining rooms to be sure you haven't missed your calling.


Read more from our 2001 Tabletop Series:

2001 Tabletop Series, Part I

2001 Tabletop Series, Part II

2001 Tabletop Series, Part III

2001 Tabletop Series, Part IV