AmericasMart Atlanta

Press Release

AmericasMart & ORIA Host Summer Market Area Rug Auction Benefiting ORIA Charitable Fund

August 31, 2006

ATLANTA, May 2006—For more than a decade, The Oriental Rug Importers Association (ORIA) and its members have been financially committed to a variety of philanthropic support initiatives and charities worldwide. Many of these organizations are dedicated to improving the lives of children—specifically those affected by global disasters. Additionally, ORIA has recently expanded its reach to include on-going support for non-governmental programs aimed at improving the health, welfare and educational enrichment of needy children and their families in the world’s major carpet weaving districts.

This July, ORIA’s commitment to children extends to a unique but natural alliance between itself and AMERICASMART-ATLANTA, the nation’s leading wholesale market center. In conjunction with the summer Atlanta International Area Rug Market, July 16—19, 2006, AMERICASMART and ORIA will host a silent auction featuring 20—30 of the world’s most exquisite, hand-knotted rugs. Donated exclusively by ORIA members, opening bids on these large-sized area rugs will be listed significantly lower than wholesale value.

All proceeds will benefit ORIA’s Charitable Fund benefiting Children—a vehicle through which educational, community and public healthcare initiatives are funded. Almost 100 percent of the Fund’s proceeds directly benefit these initiatives.

Bidding will begin Sunday, July 16 at 9 a.m. in the MOI Gallery located on the 4th floor of AMERICASMART ? in 4B1 and is open to all Market attendees. The auction will end on Monday, July 17 at 5 p.m. Auction participants will also be eligible to enter-to-win a spectacular hand-knotted area rug, as well as an Apple IPod.

Winning bids will be announced during the annual Rug Retailer of the Year (ROY) Awards held this year at the Georgia Aquarium—the world’s largest aquarium—in its Oceans Ballroom. The Ballroom—situated among the most spectacular and endangered sea creatures, including Beluga Whales and Whale Sharks—the largest fish in the world—will host live entertainment, a complimentary cocktail buffet and a Monte Carlo-themed casino evening.

For information on the ORIA Charitable Fund, contact Lucille Laufer, executive director, ORIA, at llaufer@oria.org. For more information on AMERICASMART-ATLANTA and its annual markets, please call 1-800-ATL-MART or visit the web site at AmericasMart.com.

AMERICASMART-ATLANTA is the largest wholesale marketplace of its kind in the world, and is a leading international market source for a wide variety of consumer goods. It hosts 23 wholesale markets and six Market Wednesdays that annually attract more than 548,000 attendees from every U.S. state and 80 countries.

Retailers attending its markets identify AMERICASMART as the gift/home furnishings/area rug wholesale marketplace most important to their business—as compared to all competing U.S. wholesale markets—in independent research conducted by Moore & Symons, Inc.

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