There is a city in North Carolina with a population under a hundred thousand.
Twice a year it fills with tens of thousands of visitors from around the world.
They come to walk through millions of square feet of showroom space, looking at furniture that is not for sale to them and will not appear in stores for many months.
What happens during those weeks determines what ends up in American living rooms.
Almost nobody outside the industry has heard of it, which is typical of the places where consumer decisions are actually made.
It is also the last stop in a long look at American regional businesses, and it is a fitting one, because it explains something about how the entire chain works.