Crafty Consumers, Trade Mix in SoCal

ANAHEIM—The second edition of the Craft & Hobby Assn.’s consumer show, and the tradeshow, immediately following it received positive response from attendees and exhibitors.

The CHA Winter Convention & Trade Show, which took place Jan. 24-27 at the Anaheim Convention Center, held fairly steady, compared with its performance a year ago when it drew 6,711 total attendees.

As of the penultimate day of the show, CHA Vice President of Meetings and Exhibitions Tony Lee said he projected the number of buyers would be within 1.5 percent, one way or the other, of the number who attended the show last year. The net square footage of the showfloor was down about 13 percent, compared with last year, and number of exhibitors was down 4 percent. Final numbers were not available at press time.

Last year’s show had 656 exhibiting companies on a 228,056 net square foot showfloor.

“We’re retaining (exhibitors),” said John Erich, CHA tradeshow marketing manager. “Unfortunately, they’re taking a little less square footage.”

But the main new feature of the winter show was the CHA Craft SuperShow, the association’s consumer show that first was held this past summer, July 28-30, immediately following the CHA Summer Convention & Trade Show in Orlando.

The consumer show, held Jan. 22-23 in Anaheim, attracted about 150 exhibitors to an approximately 40,000 net sq. ft. showfloor.

“That was about double what we had in Orlando,” Erich said. “… It was a much more diverse product range than at our last show.”

The total number of attendees for the consumer show hadn’t been finalized, but Lee estimated there were between 8,000 and 9,000 people.

While the consumer show’s exhibitors mostly were retail craft stores in the Southern California area, some manufacturers also had booths offering “make-it-take-its,” where attendees could make a project and then take it home, or similar projects available at a partner retailer’s booth.

Tradeshow exhibitor EKSuccessBrands, based in Clifton, N.J., opted to have a booth and do a make-it-take-it for attendees at the consumer show, said Tara Gangi, education manager for the company.

The company didn’t exhibit at CHA’s summer show or the consumer show held after it, but EKSuccessBrand’s staff was at the consumer show doing demonstrations of the company’s products in others’ booths, she added.

“We saw how successful that (consumer show) was,” Gangi said.

Lake Forest, Calif.-based exhibitor Me & My Big Ideas also offered a make-it-take-it project at the Michaels stores booth, said Linda Hall, director of marketing.

She said she had mixed feelings about the consumer show being connected so closely to the tradeshow, but that “it’s great that the consumers can come in and feel like they’re (part of it).”

Attendee Marietta Sperry, co-owner of Caren’s Crafts in Simi Valley, Calif., said, while she didn’t attend the consumer show, her sister did and had a positive reaction. “I think it was a good idea,” Sperry added.

Unlike the consumer show in the summer, this edition preceded the tradeshow, which some manufacturers said led to complaints from their retailer customers because they didn’t get the opportunity to see new merchandise before the consumer.

But, Sperry said, she appreciated the consumers testing the merchandise first because she heard what her customers would like to purchase before she placed orders at the show.

“I get the customer perspective,” she added.

Lee said because CHA decided only a few months before the winter show to have a consumer show, the association didn’t have the same kind of latitude it often does in choosing dates and had to schedule the consumer component before the trade event. Plans are in place to have the CHA Craft SuperShow again following the summer show, scheduled July 27-28 in Rosemont.

Next year, the CHA Winter Convention & Trade Show is scheduled Jan. 29-Feb. 1 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

“I think it’s good; ... keeping it on the West Coast is smart,” Hall said. “I think a change of venue will be good.”