BTS show is more basic than usual - Back-To-School Merchandise Show, Chicago, Illinois, SHOPA, trade show, New Orleans, Louisiana

Discount Store News, Nov 4, 1991 by Laura Liebeck

BTS Show Is More Basic Than Usual

CHICAGO - With the slow 1991 back-to-school season now a memory, the two upcoming BTS shows offer buyers a chance to find a few hot items to lift their business out of the doldrums.

The nation's strained economy caused 1991 back-to-school sales to be even more basic than usual, several buyers told DSN.

For some retailers, the business was also late in coming, August vs. July, and sales were disappointing.

"The industry's been stagnant except for recycling," and a few licensed products such as Waldo and Little Mermaid, one East Coast buyer said. "It's not an industry that is coming out with a lot of new things."

At least the upcoming Back-To-School Merchandise Show, scheduled to take place Nov. 12 to 14 at McCormick Place, will feature a number of new products that will reflect some real innovation in the stationery/back-to-school/home-office sector.

Among the new offerings are adjustable book covers made from recycled plastics by Tic-La-Dex, San Diego, and high quality expressive and business stationery for the mass market made by Legacy, a new division of Strathmore, West Springfield, Mass.

Tic-La-Dex, an eight-year-old company that has supplied organizational products to government and military agencies, decided recently to enter the retail sector with items geared to the back-to-school and home-office consumers, said president Geoff Phillips. U.S. distribution is being set up now.

The adjustable book covers, which will retail for less than $1.50, feature a number of colors and designs, said Phillips, noting that he has already secured the Hang Ten and Lightening Bolt licenses.

Legacy is using the Chicago BTS Show to launch its 100-sku line of colored papers - soft pastels to bright flourescents, parchment, cotton fiber and recycled products - to the retail market, said Amy McDermott, marketing manager.

Aside from the new retail paper line, Legacy, which was developed specifically for the mass market, will introduce new self-sell, color-coded, retail-oriented packaging, that shows off the paper inside.

Golden Books also is a new exhibitor to the upcoming show. Best known for its Little Golden Books series, it will launch a 69-item line of children's arts and crafts products with its new Merrigold label. Among the items are: chalk and cork boards, paints, markers and modeling clay.

Overall, 260-plus exhibitors will occupy 500 booths at the show, managed by Thalheim Expositions, Great Neck, N.Y. For the Thalheim group, the current show is its 11th annual event, and the smallest in recent memory, the result of a now fractured BTS industry.

This year, unlike the previous 10, two back-to-school shows, one month apart, will be held by two organizations in different parts of the country.

The other show, managed by InterBev for the industry's new trade association, SHOPA (School, Home Office Products Association), is likely to be the bigger of the two events, as manufacturers and buyers alike have chosen to support the new trade association in greater numbers than the Thalheim show.

SHOPA's first trade show will be Dec. 10 to 13 in New Orleans and will include many of the industry's largest companies, including Mead and Stuart Hall, which are not exhibiting in Chicago this month.

A special feature at this year's BTS Merchandise Show will be a business center, offering secretarial, facsimile and overnight mail services for exhibitors and buyers.

In addition, the organization's second annual networking party, this year sponsored by Pentel of America and Telebrands, formerly called As Seen on TV, will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 12, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., at the Chicago Hilton and Towers. Tickets are $25 each.

The recession has left many stationery buyers wondering about the prospects for next year's business. No one contacted by DSN would speculate about the 1992 BTS season or commit to a specified list of items they will look for at the upcoming show.

In fact, a number of buyers said that business was so basic this year, and late in coming, that they will be looking for legitimately new items to add some splash to their mix.

Charles Gower, divisional merchandise manager for Jacks, a 14-unit discount chain based in Quincy, Ill., said the result of the 1991 BTS season will be that he will "go after more home office" products and be a "tough negotiator" when he faces vendors.

Although basic school supplies dominated sales this year, a few outstanding items, such as wireless notebooks, multi-packs of pens and backpacks stood out from the general mix, sources said.

At Jacks, wireless notebooks and multi-packs of pens, especially from Bic, were hot, said Gower.

For Goldbatt's of Chicago, a 12-store chain, and Pic N' Save of Jacksonville, Fla., a 40-unit discount chain, back-packs did very well this year.

Pic N' Save did better than many retailers this past BTS season, having made its plan, said John Little, general merchandise manager, noting that the profit center is still in the trendy, fashionable items, and will be an area of concentration for the chain.