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Housewares Show Gets Down to Business Buyers Aggressive, Exhibitors Busy, Confidence Evident
ROSEMONT, ILL. (April 1, 2009)—As the housewares industry wraps up its 112th gathering of the International Home + Housewares Show, many exhibitors and buyers are offering strong, positive reviews of the 2009 Show, held March 22-24 at Chicago’s McCormick Place.
“Amid widespread concerns, the Housewares Show performed well beyond the expectations of most,” said Phil Brandl, president of the International Housewares Association, the not-for-profit industry association which owns and manages the Show. “It was encouraging for the economy in general to see the productive activity as buyers met sellers. Business on the Show floor was quite brisk, and even the stock market rose for a few days.”
From the Show’s Wired + Well Expo, long-time exhibitor Mark Bissell, president and CEO, Bissell Homecare, Inc., said, “We had a successful Show. We saw all our top customers and we did see senior management. In addition, we had foreign customers from Chile, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and the UK among others.”
In the same expo, industry veteran Jim McCusker debuted his new company’s products and said, “After years of exhibiting with a well-known company, the launch of Vianté Home Products Company at the 2009 Show far exceeded my expectations.”
For exhibitors in the Show’s Clean + Contain Expo, business was brisk. As Laura Engel, vice president of Angel Sales said, “We just wanted to let you know that we had an excellent show! As a matter of fact, we have dubbed it: ‘The Best Show Ever!’ We have not had a chance to even get through all of the leads yet, but my rough guess is that we had 300+ buyers stop in and express interest in our products.”
Adding to that, Rob Moser, president of Casabella Holdings LLC said, “We were extremely busy resulting in what I consider to be a very high number of quality leads – from national retailers (existing and potentially new accounts) to specialty independent retailers to export accounts as well. Traffic in our booth was heavy compared to prior years and higher than our expectation leading into the show.”
In the Dine + Design Expo in the South Building, exhibitors reported similar results.
Nancy Michael, director of marketing for TAG, Trade Associates Group, said “The good news is that the Show exceeded our expectations! We worked with new international buyers, completed appointments with all of our key customers and managed to write orders with our best independents.”
Tim Morgan, vice president of sales at LeCreuset Of America Inc., added, “We had a very good 2009 Housewares Show…. 193 appointments, introduced new products which were well received and wrote orders.”
New exhibitor, Charles Viancin of Charles Viancin Paris, said, “I did more business the first day of the Housewares Show than I did in 10 days in Paris and Frankfurt. I recommend to all Europeans with a strong marketing concept to exhibit here.”
And Robert Laub, vice president, sales & marketing, at Harold Import Co., Inc., said, “The Show was terrific. Like most, the economy had us a little apprehensive going in. The Show did not miss a beat. It was one of the best shows our company has had.”
Matt Rose, an exhibitor in the Inventors Corner was also pleased. "The Show was a success for Koopeh Designs. This was a perfect platform for us to showcase our product line."
And retailers agreed. One national chain merchant claimed, “We had a very focused agenda with key suppliers that kept us busy from dawn until dusk for three days.”
Another DMM for a national retailer indicated that the Show was his “only opportunity” to introduce his most senior management to his suppliers’ top management. Laura Havlek, owner of Sonoma, Calif.-based retailer, Sign of the Bear offered, “What a fantastic Show we had in Chicago—as usual we were sprinting up and down aisles to the end but saw so many new great items from both ongoing vendors we love, and new vendors we're excited to find.”
Martin Rayner of UK retailer Lakeland Limited shared that “We definitely went up a gear this year at Chicago. The whole fair was excellent.”
“We believe that our industry is well-positioned to lead during the upcoming economic recovery,” said IHA’s Brandl. “The Show’s intensity and the down-to-business attitude of exhibitors and attendees offer signs that we are already moving in that direction.”
The 2010 International Home + Housewares Show will be held March 14-16 at McCormick Place in Chicago. For more information on 2009 Show events and educational seminars, please visit www.housewares.org
