Las Vegas Market Temporaries Find a Home
Lisa Plummer -- Tradeshow Week, 6/26/2008 11:19:00 AM
For the first time in its history, some tradeshow exhibitors won’t be going off-site for the upcoming Las Vegas Market – Summer. Everybody will remain on the World Market Center campus, thanks to more room provided by 2.1 million square feet of additional showroom space that will be completed in time for the massive semiannual home furnishings show that combines both permanent and temporary exhibitors.
Building C will make its debut at the summer LV Market, set for July 28-Aug. 1. Out of 1,500 exhibiting companies, with 772 exhibitors in the new building alone, 300 temporaries will occupy 130,000 sq. ft. on floors 4, 5 and 10. Historically, temporary exhibitors have shown their wares at off-site venues, including Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, the Las Vegas Convention Center and MGM Grand Hotel & Casino.
The extra space in Building C will allow three returning juried showcases – Design & Living, the Living Green Pavilion and ConText – to take place on the fifth floor with 110 exhibitors.
Off-sites may now be a thing of the past, according to Michelle Monteferrante, vice president of tradeshow operations. Keeping the temporaries on the 57-acre campus spells extra convenience for the attendee, she added. Although WMC doesn’t reveal its attendance numbers, somewhere around 50,000 are expected to attend the summer event.
“We’re trying to create ease for the buyer, to make the efficiency of their shopping day more streamlined, all on one campus within one building,” Monteferrante said. “When you’ve got 5 million sq. ft. of showroom space, it’s kind of hard to ask your typical attendee to go to the pavilions, to the campus and to the offsite. That’s an awful lot of space to have to go see.”
The on-site pavilions, which contribute approximately 345,000 sq. ft. of additional space, will not be needed for temporary exhibits at this market, she said. Two of them will be used for the grand opening party, she added.
The temporaries and flex space are all part of WMC’s strategy to secure permanent exhibitors, or “perms,” Monteferrante said. As the campus grows and more space becomes available, temporary exhibitors can opt to sign leases for permanent showrooms.
“Our project is doing what we sought out to do, with our temps as an incubator for permanent space,” she added.
Yet, as the building inventory and demand for permanent showroom space increases, one might wonder if the temporaries might be forced to go off-site again.
Monteferrante said, “Right now, our initial thoughts are that we’ll be in the pavilions and utilize some of the flex space that we’re using (in) this market for temps. We’re trying to keep the energy on the campus and contained within the collection of buildings.”
A fourth building on the WMC campus next is tentatively scheduled to break ground in early ’09, according to Monteferrante. Out of its planned 1.1 million sq. ft. of space, 150,000 sq. ft. will be allotted for temporary exhibits.
Plans to break ground on what will be called Building D this fall were delayed for economic reasons, Monteferrante said. Upon completion of the eight-building campus in 2010, WMC is expected to have a total of 12 million sq. ft. of exhibit space.
The Las Vegas Market – Winter is scheduled Feb. 9-13.
