A House Divided

One year ago, Gifts & Dec reported that the collectibles industry, whose main trade show has historically taken place in June in the Midwest, would now have two rival shows: The 27-year-old International Collectible Exposition, endorsed as usual by the National Association of Limited Edition Dealers, and the new Collectors' Festival 2001, sponsored by Giftware Business and Collector Editions magazines. The latter was endorsed by the Collectible & Giftmakers Guild, which had withdrawn its endorsement from the International Collectible Exposition, citing disagreements with show management Krause Publications on issues ranging from booth prices to publicity.

Both shows were held in June 2000: Collectors' Festival ran June 14–17 at Chicago's Navy Pier and the International Collectible Exposition ran June 28–July 1 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in nearby Rosemont, IL. Gifts & Dec attended both shows, and this is what we found.

The catalog company Gift Creations Concepts (GCC) cooperated with Collectors' Festival by combining its annual show with the Festival. There were a quite a few GCC exhibitors showcasing both collectible and general gift merchandise, and they seemed to be doing brisk business. But contrary to expectations, there seemed to be little spillover of buyers to the 78 non-GCC exhibiting companies.

General retailer attendance fell dramatically short of expectations as the majority of the 1,783 retailers who pre-registered failed to attend. Of the 366 on-site registrants, 230 were GCC retailers. Collector attendance, too, was scanty. Some 1,282 members of the public attended, plus children who were admitted free of charge.

The Guild attributed this light attendance to the fact that many exhibitors came in late, giving them insufficient time to promote the event, and to an $8 admission fee that was too high to entice families visiting the Navy Pier's other attractions.

According to the Guild's newsletter, show organizer VNU Expo (whose parent company also owns Giftware Business) estimates its losses on the show at approximately $250,000. Collector Communications Corp., owner of Collector Editions magazine, is rumored to have sold its interest in the show to VNU prior to its being held. Robert Rowe, owner of Collector Communications, could not be reached for comment.

The attractive and centrally located venue, however, drew general praise from exhibitors, retailers, and collectors alike, despite its higher cost to exhibit. One successful innovation, according to Karen Feil, managing director of the Collectible and Giftmakers Guild, was the Show Shoppe, which did $35,000 worth of business on the first day. The idea of offering product beyond event pieces for sale is evidently a popular one. Thirty percent of each Show Shoppe purchase went to the retailer with whom the collector regularly shops, another 30 percent went to the show management, and 40 percent went to the vendor. For purchasers who did not specify a retailer, that 30 percent was donated to Gallery 37, a local charity promoting arts training for children. In total, the show generated $7,535 in donations from the Show Shoppe and the proceeds of a silent auction of miniature furniture.

Still the popular favorite despite being half its usual size, the International Collectible Exposition (ICE) in Rosemont nonetheless felt like its old self. Aisles on retailer days were populated, if not exactly bustling, and the retailer reception boasted a standing-room-only turnout. Collector days produced the usual mad rush at opening — complete with a police visit to settle a dawn fistfight over who was first in line. The competition did take its toll, however. The ICE had 105 exhibiting companies in 306 booths, and 1,116 retailers attended from 594 retail stores. This was a substantial downturn from the year before when 2,881 retailers attended from 1,531 stores, and 185 exhibiting companies displayed in 590 booths. Some 16,123 collectors attended in 2000, compared with 13,658 collectors in 2001.

No Collectors' Festival exhibitor we approached was willing to comment on the show's success or its relationship to the Rosemont show. The mood on the floor at Rosemont, on the other hand, approached vitriol at times, with some exhibitors blaming the Collectors' Festival for dividing the industry. There was no escaping the conclusion that the split had harmed both shows. Some big names in the industry decided not to decide, avoiding both shows or attending both with smaller booths and fewer bells and whistles — such as special events, giveaways, and artist signings. Some simply attended one show or the other — with the result that many retailers were unable to order from all their usual vendors in one place, or to fill buses with collectors, since half their lines were at one show and half at the other.

What's in store for the future remains unclear. At press time, a spokesman for VNU said, "The Collector's Festival next year will be repositioned. We're thinking about some other opportunities we might have with that, but it won't return in its similar format back to Chicago."

Meanwhile, Krause Publications has undertaken some changes to make its show more competitive and responsive to the industry's needs, most notably renaming it the International Gift & Collectible Exposition. It will move from a four-day to a three-day show in 2002, and relocate the April satellite show, which bounces back and forth between the East and West Coasts, from Secaucus, New Jersey, to Atlantic City.

An ad hoc committee of Collectible & Giftmakers Guild companies met with Claude Chmiel and Greg Smith of Krause Publications to discuss Guild endorsement of future International Gift & Collectible Expositions. Issues raised included the addition of a Show Shoppe and the designation of Gallery 37 as the charity associated with it, a discount for Guild members, a room for the Guild's annual conference, and a small endorsement fee.

The Guild will discuss Krause's response and make a decision at its board meeting in late October, but both sides are hopeful that the rift will be healed.

"We'll be happy to finally get this resolved," said Karen Feil.

"We don't want to look back at what was a tough year and the things that contributed to make it a tough year," explains Chmiel, "The industry wants to focus on rebuilding the limited-edition collectible industry and expanding into the gift industry. Our talks with key exhibitors, plus our ongoing discussions with the leadership of the Collectibles & Giftmakers Guild, have us confident the entire gift and collectibles industry will be united behind our 2002 Show."

We shall see.