Phoenix a No, New York a Go for Reed Expo's JCK
By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 6/20/2005
Coming off the success of its The JCK Show — Las Vegas, Reed Exhibitions' jewelry division is now turning its attention to a new show on the East Coast. JCK NYC Invitational is scheduled to launch March 3–5 at the New York Hilton, just as The JCK Show — Phoenix is being scrapped after a two-year run.
The Tradeshow Week 200 version of JCK in Las Vegas wrapped up June 7 after five full days of 10 a.m.–5 p.m. exhibition hours at the Sands Expo & Convention Center. Although Reed did not respond to inquiries for statistics, the show reportedly was up compared to last year, when it ranked No. 28 on the top-200 list, filling 549,370 net sq. ft. with 2,803 exhibitors.
Reed does not report JCK's attendance numbers, and the show will not be one of those whose attendance will be independently audited next year as part of a Reed pilot auditing program.
JCK's vitality in recent years has come partially from the addition of shows-within-the-show to serve growing sectors of the jewelry business. The Las Vegas event now encompasses LUXURY by JCK and Swiss Watch by JCK to serve manufacturers and buyers of high-end merchandise and timepieces.
Yet Reed recently canceled its February JCK show after two years in Phoenix, where it moved from Orlando.
Reed Vice President Dave Bonaparte, who is in charge of the JCK Show, said the Orlando show — traditionally for "the majors, meaning the big boxes, Zales, JCPenney, etcetera" — was growing quickly. Concerned the market wasn't large enough to sustain two broad-based national shows, Reed felt it should choose between the Orlando and Las Vegas shows. It chose Las Vegas as its national show and moved the winter show to Phoenix, hoping to attract more independent jewelers from the West Coast. But the plan failed.
"The Phoenix show couldn't sustain the setup, because of the success of the Las Vegas show," Bonaparte explained. "So, we decided not to continue with Phoenix and launch a new event, going back to the original plan."
By this, he meant that the new event, JCK NYC Invitational, will again seek to tap the flow of large-volume retailers on the East Coast.
Bonaparte emphasized that the show has not moved from Phoenix to New York: "We shut one down, and launched a brand new event. We'll be targeting large-volume retailers, people that need to buy more often."
More than 400 companies have signed up to exhibit at JCK NYC Invitational, according to Bonaparte, who added that Reed likes the model of an upscale show at a hotel in the heart of downtown Manhattan, "the epicenter of the jewelry industry."
The market offers the added benefit of not having direct competition for JCK at the moment. The Manufacturing Jewelers and Suppliers of America also holds its MJSA Expo New York in March in the Big Apple. However, that exhibition, set to follow JCK by a week, March 12–14 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, features equipment and services for jewelry fabrication and draws designers and manufacturers (who do exhibit at JCK) as buyer attendees.
