Philadelphia Gift Show Is Heading to Reading

Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 3/27/2006

Because of the recently announced conversion of the Fort Washington (Pa.) Expo Center to office space, Urban Expositions will move the semiannual Philadelphia Gift Show 50 miles west to the new Greater Reading (Pa.) Expo Center for its next two editions in July and January.

Coincidentally, the Reading location is currently being converted from office space into the expo center and will open in June.

According to the Atlanta-based show management firm, the center will have more than 350,000 square feet of exhibit space and 4,000 on-site parking spaces.

The new site offers a convenient alternative for the 10-year-old show's attendee base, said Urban Expositions President Doug Miller.

"The Reading location allows us to maintain the same travel conveniences and cost-effective, casual show environment our current retailers have come to expect from the Philadelphia Gift Show," he said. "And it opens up the opportunity to attract even more new buyers and bring new business opportunities to our exhibitors, who have been such a vital part of the show's growth and success."

The July 23–26 show will be larger than in previous years, expanding to 1,400 booths, due to the launch of a Birdwatch America Philadelphia section. Urban Expositions in January purchased Birdwatch America Atlanta from Longdown Publishing. The Philadelphia show section is part of the firm's strategy to strengthen the show brand.

The bureau that lost the gift show's business, Valley Forge Convention & Visitors Bureau, estimated that each show pumped more than $20 million into the region's economy, said President Paul Decker.

"Obviously, we're unhappy that we're going to lose them for a few cycles," Decker said.

However, Decker said he is optimistic that the bureau would "be able to recoup all of the business" when the Fort Washington center is relocated by early fall.