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More on CHA’s Move to Orlando
Posted by: BillGardner | August 19, 2008
Here are additional comments on the Craft & Hobby Association’s decision to move its summer show to Orlando in 2009 and to add a consumer event.
As a retailer…I am thrilled that the 2009 CHA summer show will be in Orlando Florida. It will give me a chance to go as I do not travel by plane and live in South Florida.
As far as a consumer show being added, NOT HAPPY! This is a show that is for retailers only and so that we can preview and order for the upcoming seasons. This will have a direct bearing on my sales as a retailer. I don’t think that the vendors should compete with the local retail stores.
Thanks for soliciting comments on this move. I am a relatively new CHA member and my business is less than a year old. Chicago was my second CHA show, and I’m thankful for the CHA shows. They enable me to do three to four weeks of work in a few days because my vendors are all in one place and I can see their product. To learn it’s moving from Chicago to Orlando causes great concern.
I don’t go to the show for entertainment, I go to work. Chicago is a great location for me because
· It’s a major airline hub (Orlando is not);
· I can fly there in half a day compared to an all-day and exhausting flight to Orlando;
· The travel cost to Chicago is less by at least half than to Orlando;
· The weather in Chicago is generally less humid and less warm than Orlando during the summer; and
· The CHA vendors don’t have to pay huge increases in shipping to get their product to Orlando.
And the consumer show after the wholesale show? Maybe a grand idea for Chicago. In fact, I would consider renting a booth and shipping product to the show. There is no value whatsoever for me to do so in Orlando. The cost is prohibitive. Plus, if I do get customers, shipping to the Southeast for me is the most expensive place to ship.
I wish I could put a positive spin on this, but I’m just not seeing it. I heard the vendors buzzing because of the huge costs to ship that far. It’s a luxury for me to attend the show, and I’ve been able to financially justify it because of the lost cost to me in lost time and relatively low travel expenses. That won’t be the same for the trip to Orlando. I am considering not attending a CHA show in Orlando.
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