GLM Cooks up Collocation Plan With Reed Expo

George Little Management has been wondering: Can Reed Exhibitions' home improvement show save its gourmet cookware event?

Reed and GLM plan to collocate their respective Natl. Hardware Show and Gourmet Products Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center and Sands Expo & Convention Center starting with the show May 17–19, 2005. Their announcement coincided with a disappointing Gourmet show May 9–11 in San Francisco and a successful Las Vegas debut for the Natl. Hardware Show May 10–12. While Gourmet drew only about 500 exhibitors and 4,000 attendees (compared with 691 exhibitors and 5,039 attendees last year) and the Natl. Hardware Show reportedly pulled in 2,300 exhibitors, GLM expects the two combined to attract 2,800 exhibitors and 40,000 attendees in 2005.

It also followed the Intl. Housewares Assn.'s successful Intl. Housewares Show March 20–22 at Chicago's McCormick Place. The show upped its specialty retailer attendance by 25 percent, thanks mainly to the addition of a Gourmet Home District. In addition, it was the show's first in its spring time frame, putting it less than two months before the Gourmet show.

Given these changes, GLM said, competition from the IHA was too much to bear. "This year's Gourmet Products Show in San Francisco definitely was impacted by the move of the Housewares Show to March," said GLM Executive Vice President Alan Steel.

The IHA spent a long time planning the changes implemented at Housewares this year. The association announced the switch to a spring date in October 2001, and unveiled its plans for the GoHo district in October 2002. IHA President Phil Brandl described the moves as a "purely customer-driven strategy," developed by listening to exhibitors and retailers. "The March timing allowed us to add a couple product categories that increased the critical mass of products our customers were interested in seeing at the show," Brandl said.

The plans paid off. According to the IHA, the number of exhibiting companies increased by 4 percent and attendance was up 4.2 percent over the prior year. But some speculate that the Tradeshow Week 200-ranked Housewares Show, with three times as many exhibitors and attendees as GLM's niche event, simply wanted to take over the gourmet products market.

"I think Housewares got greedy," said Marc Barber, manager of catalog & specialty accounts for Ideal Products, an exhibitor at both the housewares and hardware exhibitions. "They wanted Gourmet Products' buyers, and it's a shame because both shows are good, but now that they're so close, a lot of people will have to choose between them."

GLM, however, hopes to give buyers a different choice. "We've always kind of followed the lead of the IHA, so it was necessary, when they moved to March, for us to talk to our customers and see how they wanted to handle it," Steel explained. "And they said they wanted something new, exciting and different."

What could be more different from San Francisco than Las Vegas? Steel pointed out that Sin City has been successful at attracting some of the world's best chefs, raising its culinary status. As for the cultural differences between the two cities, Steel said, "We have a lot of people who like San Francisco, and it's a great destination for the kind of show Gourmet Products was, but the reality was we couldn't get the dates and venue we wanted, and we couldn't continue to do a stand-alone event there."

This year, Steel said, GLM was forced to work around a urologists' conference that bumped his show to Mother's Day in Moscone's new West Hall, causing some logistical challenges. "It's very nice," Steel said of the facility, "but on three levels and not really designed for use by large tradeshows."

One might wonder, however: What does gourmet cookware have to do with hardware? Reed executives touted the union as a logical move that will save time and money for about 700 overlapping retail store buyers by offering them two shows for the price of one. "Kitchenware and tabletop products makes sense to go with the Natl. Hardware Show, which is really a home lifestyle event," said Reed Industry Vice President Dennis MacDonald. This year's show featured everything from power tools, to lawn and garden equipment, to some home furnishings.

As proof of the synergy, Steel cited recent changes in Macy's purchasing offices that put the department store's vice president of cookware and electrics in charge of buying items that can be found at both shows. Besides, the two brands will remain distinct and occupy separate buildings, with Gourmet in the LVCC's South Hall and the Natl. Hardware Show at the Sands and the LVCC's Main Hall.

Gerry VanderSchauw, publisher of the Housewares Executive and Home Improvement Executive newsletters, said he was surprised that GLM moved the show to Las Vegas rather than redesigning it to be a more intimate gathering at another San Francisco venue for the core group of gour-met buyers and sellers. "In many ways, what they've done is diluted what Gourmet is all about," he said.

But GLM — with 54 tradeshows featuring more than 36,500 exhibitors in more than 6.4 million net sq. ft. of space and attracting 600,000 attendees — is in the business of big tradeshows, not intimate gatherings.

None of the major exhibitors in Gourmet Products contacted by Tradeshow Week would comment on the collocation with the Natl. Hardware Show, but hardware exhibitors seemed to be all for anything that could boost their event. "The Gourmet Show doesn't fit our bill, but having it next door will help the synergy with companies like TruServ, Ace and Best, because they go to those shows" said Bud Burkett, director of advertising and marketing communications for Cosco Home & Office Products. "I think it will help draw a new audience for our products, so we're very excited about it."