Dueling expositions: industry is split on back-to-school shows - Thalheim Expositions, School and Home Office Products Association, office equipment and supplies industry

Discount Store News, Sept 2, 1991 by Laura Liebeck

Dueling Expositions: Industry Is Split On Back-To-School Shows

NEW YORK - The divisiveness between the two show groups organizing Back-To-School and home/office products expositions has lessened in recent weeks, but the industry remains split by the infighting.

Despite negotiations between Thalheim Expositions and SHOPA (School and Home Office Products Association) to reconcile their differences and join forces to sponsor one industry trade show, two BTS shows will be held this year just four weeks apart from each other.

Representatives from both organizations said recent talks between the two groups were held to clear the air. The main atmosphere of the talks was positive, both sides agreed, but they failed to resolve many of their differences.

As a result, the possibility of the groups combining show efforts is unlikely before 1993. The SHOPA board is likely to vote later this month to contract with InterBev, show managers for its 1991 show, to manage the second one as well, in 1992, said Gary Kibler, SHOPA's executive vice president.

Proceeding with separate events, the organizers of both shows say they are confident they will satisfy the needs of exhibitors and buyers. They also say they are enthusiastic about the response they have gotten to the different approaches they have set for their events.

No buyer attendance data is available yet since the shows are still more than a month away. Manufacturer participation lists are incomplete, too, so it is still unclear exactly who is going where.

Kibler feels most vendors will choose one show to attend, while Henry Dicker, show manager for Thalheim, expects more crossover between the shows.

The first of the two shows will be sponsored by Thalheim Expositions, Manhasset, N.Y., the organizer of the Back-To-School Merchandise Show for the last 10 years. Thalheim will hold the 11th annual show in Chicago this year at McCormick Place's North Hall, Nov. 12 to 14.

The industry's new show is being sponsored by SHOPA, its six-month-old trade association. That event will be held in New Orleans at the convention center, Dec. 11 to 14.

Both shows will have approximately the same amount of exhibition space, although the gross square feet will differ. Thalheim Expositions has reserved 150,000 gross square feet for its show. As of early August, 520 exhibitor booths were reserved and 700 are anticipated, said Dicker. SHOPA has 201 exhibitor companies signed up in space that could run as high as 237,000 gross square feet.

SHOPA has attracted the "big guns" in the BTS industry, namely Mead (2,700 square feet of booth space) and Stuart Hall (2,400 square feet, excluding 1,000 square feet for Lisa Frank licensed products). Other exhibitors occupying more than 1,000 square feet of booth space at the SHOPA show include Pentech, Esselte Pendaflex, Faber-Castell, Fellowes and Norcom.

Among Thalheim's big-name exhibitors are ACCO, American Greetings, K&M, Dennison, Eldon/Rubbermaid and Pentech, said Dicker.

Because of their timing, both shows are intended to be buying events. The similarities end there.

The Thalheim show will feature two seminar programs, including one which is being sponsored by DSN, and will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 8:30 a.m.

SHOPA will have no seminar programs and no show daily. It will have some "then" and "now" exhibits which will feature office equipment and supplies in offices of the past and of today.

During SHOPA, the trade group will also hold its first yearly meeting on Saturday morning.