Dallas Market Center, home of the largest residential lighting trade events in North America as well as 1.5 million square feet of open-daily design showrooms, announces the addition of a smart lighting demo center by ProSource. The demo center, located in WTC 10040, is slated to open in time for January trade events including Lightovation, January 7-10, 2021. It also presents lighting lab learning opportunities for the recently announced ArchLIGHT Summit architectural and specification lighting show, debuting September 21-22, 2021.
The space will feature multiple residential rooms showcasing smart home systems and devices, including lighting products and applications, for the benefit of ProSource members and vendor partners. ProSource is the leading buying group for the custom electronics integrator market and represents more than 550 specialty retailers and custom integrators. The buying group already works with American Lighting, a lighting manufacturer among the more than 150 lighting brands with showrooms at Dallas Market Center.
Inside the demo center, ProSource will convene its national membership regularly for training about lighting, as well as producing video demonstrations for online learning. Additionally, this space will provide an opportunity for Dallas Market Center retail and design customers to learn about lighting applications and advancements in an immersive setting.
“Working together to showcase smart home technology to our buyers is a strategic initiative,” said Cindy Morris, president and CEO of Dallas Market Center. “We welcome ProSource and look forward to working together on interactive environments for maximum inspiration and education. Many of our loyal buyers are seeking products for the connected home, and many brands want to feature their own solutions, but it’s critically important to present them together in an experiential manner. ProSource understands this and will offer an integrated environment, anchored by lighting, available exclusively in Dallas.”
The concept for this innovative showroom was developed by Light Can Help You, a lighting design firm and ProSource education partner. Said Mark Langston, partner with David Warfel at Light Can Help You: “On behalf of ProSource we are eager to create a state-of-the-art center at Dallas Market Center to illustrate a comprehensive connected home system plan—with lighting as the centerpiece. It’s so important to have a platform for direct engagement and education about these products, and there is no better location than the North American home of residential lighting.”
The ProSource demo center complements Smarter Living by Design, another smart home showroom on the 10th floor of the World Trade Center at Dallas Market Center that opened in June 2019. The showroom, anchored by Samsung and featuring fourteen brands of smart home and home automation, is an open-daily destination for interior designers and retailers eager to discover technology for every room in the home. Smarter Living by Design was spearheaded by HomeTronics, a Dallas-based custom electronics integrator.
For January Markets in Dallas, ProSource will be among dozens of buying groups and associations participating in the trade events. Recognizing the importance of health and safety, comprehensive measures are in place for 2021 including mandatory temperature checks for every person entering the marketplace as well as required face coverings. Individual lighting showrooms are also making important efforts from basic social distancing and hand sanitizing up to the high-tech installation of temperature scanning technology and new air filtration systems. Along with these new steps, there are safety measures that are part of the design of the Dallas marketplace: open parking, large entryways, quick registration in multiple areas, wide hallways, multiple escalators, and showrooms with controlled access to allow for the appropriate distance between customers.
The January edition of Lightovation is traditionally the largest showcase of new lighting and ceiling fan products of the year, and reports from exhibitors indicate that the January 2021 event will feature a significant number of new products across all categories to meet retail demand. The January 2020 edition of Lightovation welcomed more retail decision makers than the previous year, including a dramatic 29% increase in stores attending for the first time.
