Housewares Show Stays at Three Days
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 5/2/2005
The Intl. Housewares Assn. has backtracked on its announcement last month that the Intl. Home & Housewares Show would expand to a four-day event. Instead, IHA President Phil Brandl said, the show will run three days as it has in the past, March 12–14, 2006, at Chicago's McCormick Place. In both cases, exhibitor demand was cited as the reason for the decision.
Brandl said the organization believed it had seen a clear mandate from certain retail and exhibitor segments for extending the show. However, sentiment expressed after the announcement indicated that was not the case. IHA Board Chairman Douglas J. Bradshaw (also chairman of Bradshaw Intl.) said there were numerous reasons for extending the pattern, but the board had to listen to its membership.
Bradshaw said the message the group had gotten was that the large international contingent of buyers, 30 percent of all attendees, wanted more time to see their U.S. suppliers. He also said that discussions with retailer advisory councils, face-to-face retailer meetings and research had indicated customers wanted a longer show.
However, different sentiments were expressed once the decision to expand was announced.
"We'd heard rumors that they were going to add a show day, but I never understood why," said exhibitor Jerry Zuchowicki, vice president of global appliance marketing for Sunbeam Products. "The last day is always slow. Why add an extra day and extra costs to what is already a significant investment?
"And we don't get more international traffic the last day. Three days is ample."
The most recent edition of the show, held March 20–22 at McCormick Place, spanned 797,467 net square feet and attracted 2,221 exhibitors and 59,000 attendees.
