All, My wife and I just returned from Tucson last evening. Our show
at G+LW started on 2 Feb and ended on 15 Feb. It was a long and
hard show. Booth setup each day took 90 minutes and tear down for
storage took 60 minutes. Our show opened at 10 AM and closed at 7
PM. Each day was about 11.5 hours on your feet. Our booth covered
5 tables full of
I would characterize the attendance as low to average. Of course
the first few days were fast and furious, but overall the show was
not that well attended. Most dealers in my show characterized their
earnings as OK. Not anything to dance in the streets about, but
still OK.
Expenses were high. By renting a room with a cooking area we were
able to keep our expenses at about $6,000 for the show. We were too
tired to party and carried sandwiches and drinks back and forth to
the show.
Now we are in the post show mode. All the cases are unpacked and
put back into storage. Clothes are being washed. Stock is being
inventoried against receipts to calculate loss due to theft and
breakage. Two days from now we will know if the show was a good
show.
I will post several observations about the show in the near future.
Thank You, to all the people who took the time to come over and see
me and our setup. Meeting these people was one of the highlights of
the show.
Gerry Galarneau
I would characterize the attendance as low to average. Of course
the first few days were fast and furious, but overall the show was
not that well attended
I have received several reports that the attendance was down again
this year. This is not surprising for a couple of reasons. First
is the travel issue. Any of you who have flown in the last couple
months know it ain’t like it used to be.
The other reason might be the number of shows. I pulled out a 1997
Colored Stones Tucson show guide and it listed 23 shows. The 2002
guide list 34, and increase of more than 47%. Even with a modest
overall increase in attendance for Tucson as a whole, the effect
would be to dilute the attendance at any one show. Given that I had
no trouble finding moderate priced motel rooms for the show, just a
week before the shows started, one could assume that the overall
numbers were down also.
Don
Dear Gerry,
Although I was unable to conclude any business with you I want you
to kno w what a great pleasure it was to finally get to meet you and
your lovely w ife.
Your work is remarkable and it was a treat to finally see it (and
you) in
person. Many thanks to Marty for her creative design for my
daughter Mor gan’s new business logo. Morgan was very taken by it (as
was everyone else!) a nd it is just perfect. One day soon, I hope
that you will reconsider and find some time for my project. The very
best wishes to you and your family. Steph anie Young
Dear Don, I quite agree with all your observations…the fact
that we could easily get decent accomodations just days before
leaving for the show is a very good indicator of a decline in
attendance. Furthermore, I had no trouble at all getting a deeply
discounted air ticket just days before leaving. As a matter of fact,
parking was not even a problem. I had a rental car and soon got onto
the ins and outs of the parking game. As for the problem of there
being too many shows, one would think that it would have to stop at
some point in time. Moreover, there is entirely too much repetition
of goods offered. There were endless rows of dealers in the big tent
shows who seemed to have pretty much the same thing. I can’t help but
think that many of these dealers “ate it” big time. The market can
only absorb so much ! Unfortunately, the numerical presence of the
dealers may have little to do with free enterprise inasmuch as there
are all kinds of incentives and subsidies that foreign and our own
government offer to participants…especially those from
developing economies. Ultimately the net effect ought to be that of
bringing down prices. In this latter regard I found littgle evidence
of this being the case as yet. While the selection was phenomenal,
the bargains belonged to those who were large quantity buyers.
Personally I am inclined to believe that attendance at regional shows
is a more practical alternative for most of us. Tucson is undeniably
a very exciting event, but how any of us can really afford to plunk
down tens of thousands of dollars to make it pay ? Ron at Mills
Gem, Los Osos, CA.