ConvExx Scrapbook Show April Launch in Columbus On Again
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 9/5/2005
Just when one door closes, another one opens.
Although ConvExx will not be producing DiveBiz Expo after all, it has rescheduled the previously postponed ScrapbookBiz tradeshow for next April 11–13 in Columbus, Ohio.
The launch, originally planned for this spring, was postponed when exhibitors and attendees said two eastern U.S. industry shows, one in February and one in April, were too much, said Mindi Schwartz, vice president of ConvExx.
The Craft & Hobby Assn.'s HIA Convention & Trade Show took place in February at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. The Tradeshow Week 200-ranked confab is slated for Las Vegas in 2006 and Anaheim in 2007–2009, according to TSW research, leaving an opening in the early part of the year east of the Mississippi.
Due to the Hobby Industry Assn. merging last year with the Assn. of Crafts & Creative Industries, the resulting organization, CHA, also has a summer event called the ACCI Show in Rosemont.
However, both CHA shows are horizontal craft-industry gatherings, Schwartz noted, adding that the only niche competitor is Memory Trends, an annual scrapbooking show at the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas each fall.
Kevin Nelson, editor in chief of Scrapbook Premier magazine and member of the ScrapbookBiz advisory council, said he hopes the new show will stand out from the existing pool by offering useful education for specialty shop owners, who have had a tough time staying in business.
"We've seen a real shakeup in the retail sector, with independent retailers trying to stay open," Nelson said. "For most of them it's a hobby; they're not business-minded. They get into the business, and treat it as a hobby. It's the kiss of death."
Nelson said the $2 billion scrapbooking industry "should be a $20 billion industry," because of the growth opportunities available to professionals involved in genealogy, theme- and event-based crafting, and other "scrapbooking with a purpose."
Although he said his publication has tracked a recent, steady drop in independent retailer attendance at all the existing shows it participates in, Nelson said he is "cautiously optimistic" about ScrapbookBiz. "I hope they can make a go of it," he said.
He added that the East and eastern Midwest accounts for about 35 percent of independent scrapbooking retailers.
Schwartz said exhibitor prospectuses went out in July, and she plans to launch the show's attendance-promotion campaign in October.
