Gifts and Wellness: A Match Made in N.Y.

By Rachelle Crum -- Tradeshow Week, 8/22/2005

New York—Enhancing a 74-year-old show and stabilizing a 9-year-old one at the same time isn't easy — especially during an intense heat wave and rainstorm. But George Little Management made it appear simple at the New York Intl. Gift Fair Aug. 13–18.

The firm for the first time collocated the elder, semiannual 617,069 square foot show — at New York's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and Passenger Ship Terminal Pier 92 and the UnConvention Center, Pier 94 — with the non-gift, 7,000 sq. ft. EX•TRACTS: Essentials for personal care and wellness, Aug. 13–16 at Penn Plaza Pavilion.

The rescheduling of EX•TRACTS to occur at the same time as the NYIGF made perfect sense, said GLM Senior Vice President and NYIGF Show Director Leslie Nathan-Street, because the gift industry has recently evolved to include "inspirational" personal care and wellness products.

"The whole idea for EX•TRACTS came out of the gift industry," Nathan-Street said, noting that a smaller GLM gift show, the San Francisco Intl. Gift Fair, has included EX•TRACTS as a division for nearly five years.

EX•TRACTS — which primarily features spa products, aromatherapy, candles, loungewear and cosmetics — will now coincide with both Tradeshow Week 200 Fairs in the summer and winter, instead of with the New York Home Textiles Show, a linen and towel show in the spring and fall, as it previously did.

Nathan-Street said the White Plains, N.Y.-based GLM is "always looking for ways to expand" its shows in creative ways, including at the Sept. 10–13 Boston Gift Show, which will feature another growing sector of the industry with the new Jubilee Gift Basket Pavilion.

And although the 80 EX•TRACTS exhibitors may have been a blip on the radar for some NYIGF attendees and its 2,600 exhibitors, Nathan-Street said, "EX•TRACTS products have become very important in the gift industry. We always knew there was synergy (between NYIGF and EX•TRACTS)."

Exhibitors at the collocated shows agreed, especially those at EX•TRACTS because of the access they had to attendees at the Fair, New York's second-largest tradeshow (No. 25 on the TSW 200. Its January counterpart, No. 20 in 2004, is the only larger New York show.). The April Textiles and EX•TRACTS shows together attracted 5,300 attendees. Nearly 10,000 of the NYIGF's 43,000 attendees were expected to visit the EX•TRACTS showfloor.

Brooklyn, N.Y.-based EX•TRACTS exhibitor Doug Densmore, vice president of sales for Xela Aromasticks, said he appreciated GLM's efforts to grow the wellness show.

"I'm sort of in it to win it," said Densmore, who also serves on the show's advisory board. "The textile show just wasn't a fit. We all want to be part of the gift show, even if we get 5 or 10 percent (of its attendees)," he added.

NYIGF exhibitor Joe Cloherty, vice president of sales for Wilmington, N.C.-based Cape Craftsmen, said EX•TRACTS was a welcome addition. "Anything that gets more people into the show makes sense," he said.

GLM Vice President and Group Show Manager Penny Sikalis said another reason for the NYIGF and EX•TRACTS collocation was the fact that "the lines are definitely blurring" between industries, including the gift and personal care markets. "We're reflecting what's going on in the market," she said, adding, "It's adding freshness to the (NYIGF)."

Attendee Deirdre Davis, president of the Red Bank, N.J.-based gift basket company Bags, Boxes and Baskets, said she headed straight to EX•TRACTS after arriving at the nearby Pennsylvania Station because the show's products are essential for her business.

"It's become a main part of what I do," Davis said, adding that she enjoyed the show's 4-block separation from the bulk of the NYIGF at the Javits center.

Densmore agreed. "I like the ambiance of this location. It's quaint having our own scenario," he said.

Diana Estupinan traveled from Barranquilla, Columbia, for the shows to select items for the gift store chain Fedco, which has 27 locations in the country. "The shows have just what I'm looking for," she said, because Fedco carries many beauty, wellness, gift and accessory products.

Another EX•TRACTS edition, EX·TRACTS: Essentials for spa, home & travel, will collocate with the Intl. Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show Nov. 12–15, both at the Javits center, targeting the spa and travel industries.

Along with offering exhibitors new cross-marketing opportunities, the collocated shows' seminar roster also included a how-to program for retailers looking to incorporate EX•TRACTS products into their existing lines.

GLM also developed an outdoor living focus area, launched a Meet the Authors program and lauded the 20th anniversary of the 565-exhibitor juried Handmade division, one of the Fair's 10 divisions.

Also in coordination with the shows and on the same dates, the new gift showroom building, 7 W New York, held New York Gift Week events. The permanent 450,000 sq. ft. gift mart, operated by Merchandise Mart Properties, opened in April. However, several additional floors of the permanent showroom building were opened during the Gift Week.

The gift market's former building, 225 Fifth Ave., changed ownership in 2004 and the tenants were forced to move. Two other New York showroom buildings, 230 Fifth Ave. and Forty-One Madison, also held special hours during the Fair.

The August 2004 NYIGF spanned 612,162 net sq. ft., with 2,566 exhibiting companies and 40,000 professional attendees.

The January 2005 edition of the show (which will again take place next Jan. 28–Feb. 2, 2006, with EX•TRACTS Jan. 28–Feb. 1) spanned 647,861 net sq. ft., with 2,877 exhibiting companies and 43,000 professional attendees.