Tucson show attendance

An erroneous comment was made a few days ago saying the attendance at
some of the Tucson shows was down by 25-25 percent. This was at least
partially not correct and I thought I should set the record straight.

The 2001 AGTA GemFair at the Tucson Convention Center had 8863 buyers
(not counting guests, press, exhibitors, etc.) which was less than 5
percent of a drop from the 9323 buyers in 2000. The exhibitors were
very pleased overall by the sales they made at the show.

A couple of other interesting points: AGTA had displays of the AGTA
Spectrum Award and Cutting Edge winners, GIA had a Treasured Gifts
Council booth where they were accepting donations for the museum they
are building, and there was an exhibit by the Smithsonian Institution.
It’s noteworthy that this was only the second time they have brought
items from the National Gem and Mineral Collection for display at a
trade show like this… the other was at the AGTA Pavilion at the JCK
Show in Las Vegas last June.

Best regards to all, as always, James Marker, GG - American Gem Trade
Association

All, I stick by my statement that overall the Tucson Show attendance
was off by around 25% and sales were even further off. That is what
I am hearing from most dealers. Let’s hear from other dealers at the
shows. How did you do? Were your sales up or down? I would like to
hear from the dealers and not an organizational member.

Gerry Galarneau
gggemswcr@aol.com
galarneausgems.com

Gerry, You make some important points about show attendance. While I
am confident that our AGTA man was not misrepresenting the
statistics, it is also critical to have a handle on the overall
volume of business. We will probably get a better idea of what
happened when the trade periodicals give their reviews. Even more
relevant is the fact that overall attendance has been down for the
past THREE years that I know of and that is a very significant
indicator. There can be no doubt about the fact that web commerce has
had a growing impact on jewelry industry commerce and there is every
reason to believe that it will continue to impact show atendance.
Another factor is the reality that “just in time” sourceing of
supplies and a higher level of quality control has made it much more
convenient to acquire needed components directly from the supplier.
The Stuller Company has achieved a level of service and quality that
has never before been accomplished. In the past the rule was that
delivery took many days and more and that no order came complete and
very often had back ordered items that might have taken weeks or even
months to fill.

Quartzsite this year was way off durimg the early shows and this was
due, in large part, to horrible weather throughout the Southwest.
Nonetheless, there was a common perception that it was not just the
weather.

Ron at Mills Gem , Los Osos, CA.

Hi, Yes , Attendance Was down this year at the G.L.D.A. But thanks to
my friends at Orchid I did better than last year… Thanks guys
and gals

Ahmed shareek
Sri Lanka

we have been at days inn and we had a good show selling peruvian blue
opal , gem silica and peruvian minerals. the first days were much
better because the visit of asian and european dealers. we also didn’t
see many dealers who bought from us at 2000 show. many people said the
weather was a very bad new for all of them. also at four points hotel
we saw normal attendance. we think that 2001 was a very good show for
gemstones but a normal year for minerals specimens because many new
minerals dealers at the show.

MINING CENTER PERU
http://www.mineralart.com/mineperu
PS: somebody will go to las vegas show?

I remember going to my first Tucson show in 1982 or 1983. It was
basically a handful of vendors at one venue. How things have changed !!!

in response to mr. james marker’s post: yes, well, attendance may have
been off only in the single digits but that can probably be
attributed to one of the registrars taking for
admittance; it was one of those being in the wrong line incidents:

  1. tried to register online in what we thought was ‘timely’ but it
    was too late, so we had to wait until opening time at the center &

  2. got in the congo line wending its way to the battery of high
    judges; fortunately we noticed that others were filling out forms
    that were not mentioned elsewhere so we

  3. filled out forms in transit only to get to the head of the line at
    the mercy of the first on the left high judge-who-must-be-obeyed,

  4. presented previously prepared copy of state business/revnue
    certificate with a business card stapled at top left (said card
    states “handmade jewelry for unique women”), photo id to prove we
    were indeed who we claimed, only to be told (was that a smirk we saw
    on her face?) that

  5. we needed MORE proof that we were indeed in the jewelry business,
    such as invoices from other companies (we had already bought almost
    $5,000 worth of tucson’s best rocks etc. before the agta show & left
    the invoices safely locked away with the items in our temporary
    flat), but since we didn’t have any with us,

  6. she announced we couldn’t get in - UNTIL i asked for

  7. her supervisor, who showed up, checked over our bona fides,
    furrowed his brow & asked her “what is the problem?” he handed the
    certificate with the card stapled on top to her, apologized to us &
    left. the judge then held out her hand & demanded a business card
    from me - she wasn’t dumb, just brain dead.

  8. while waiting for our badges we audited the line & guess what?
    even the young couple with the babies who turned over nothing more
    than the original form go their stamp of approval - from another
    judge!

  9. there is a god! at one of the few booths where we stopped who
    should be standing there talking to a jeweler but an editor of one of
    the top publications - who had already heard complaints! next year in
    tucson -

ive
ps: were we the only ones who laughed at the 3/4" by 1 1/8" piece dressed
chrysocolla drusy that wholesaled for $350.00? we had been GIVEN a better
piece for an order we bought from a rockhound.

Tucson is the biggest mineral and gem show in the world.Every year we
are surprised for different news or things that we see. For instance
we saw a deal at the STREET , YES AT THE STREET , one dealer was
signed a check for US$15,000 to a homeless guy, yes a homeless, for a
Mexican Maya Antique, and he also had 2 or 3 more pieces selling them
at anyone. We also saw an incredible Amethyst geode , 2 METERS HIGH,
and it was sold the first day, I bough Diamonds ( 20 points) for US$20
each, Emeralds already finished for US$4 each and also we bough a 15
POUNDS RUBY it is amazing because 90% of it is pure Ruby and just 10%
of Zoisite. Well Tucson is the Best and we love this City and its
people. Thanks Tucson !!! We have some pictures in case you want to
see them please answer directly. MINING CENTER PERU
http://www.mineralart.com/mineperu