Adventures in Mexico
New things in new digs at Mexico City's Sede del Regalo
By Eliza Gallo -- Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 12/1/2000
Sometimes the growth of a trade show gives rise not only to celebration, but to challenges. Last year, the executives at trade show company Grupo Salpro felt that their semiannual gift fair, Sede del Regalo, had grown so much over its two decades of existence that it could no longer occupy the Exhibimex convention center in downtown Mexico City, Mexico. So began a difficult moving process.
Building Blocks
The company looked at 18 different sites, services director Alberto Castillejos told me. Unable to find a single suitable spot, Grupo Salpro decided to cobble together several different parcels of land in San Pedro de los Pinos, a western downtown neighborhood that is gradually evolving from industrial to residential. But there were obstacles. The land on which the new convention center would sit had belonged to the Mexican state railroad, and it contained an unattractive, squat station that had been deemed historical and couldn't be demolished. So the new convention center, dubbed Nuevo Exhibimex, would have to use that structure as an entryway.
"We were lucky to find a site in the center of the city," said Castillejos, but he added that the downtown location meant that Grupo Salpro had to contend with local authorities constantly looking over its shoulder. And the neighbors living near the 270,000-square-foot site, some of whom had wanted the land for themselves, had to be appeased with last-minute community concessions.
In spite of all this, the Nuevo Exhibimex opened on schedule on August 29, 2000, ushering in what boss José Augusto Morales called "a new era" for Sede del Regalo. True, on opening day there were still workmen hammering away at the roof and applying the finishing touches to the seminar area, but, considering the fact that ground had been broken only a scant nine months before, the building had been constructed with a speed that would make American exhibition companies green with envy. All told, the two-story building includes 110,000 square feet of exhibition space, a cafeteria area, and several seminar rooms. At the August 2000 show, those rooms played host to roughly 12 seminars, including a demonstration for local FTD florists by a prestigious Argentinean floral designer, a wedding design seminar, and sessions on lighting, selling techniques, and customer service. The seminars are always popular, Morales noted, usually drawing between 100 and 150 Mexican retailers eager for knowledge.
According to Morales, the available exhibition space was filled to capacity for this first show in the new building. Roughly 550 exhibitors had booths at the show, a 10 percent increase over the previous year. Some 21,000 people from roughly 44 countries attended Sede del Regalo during its five-day run. While Morales noted that 99 percent of the attendees were Mexican, and half of the Mexicans were from Mexico City itself, there was certainly an international flavor to the show. Morales pointed out that 50 percent to 60 percent of the international buyers came from the U.S. and Canada. He added that, thanks to several freight consolidators on the show floor, an international buyer could place orders with several manufacturers and have them all handled and shipped as one.
International Appeal
The truly jet-setting nature of the convention was evident on the show floor. Weaving my way past the booths of the California Gift Show and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, I was drawn to the booth of Arte y Deshidratación by gorgeous arrangements made from faux apples and citrus fruits. I asked Erika Gadsden about her company. "Oh," she said breezily, "didn't you see us at the New York gift show? We were there last week."
In fact, the show floor was full of stylish merchandise elegantly displayed. The jewelry area, filled with the folksy beaded jewelry that is all the rage right now, was jammed with buyers. Some of the product offerings were tailored to regional tastes. The ubiquitous gilt religious icons and statuary, while appealing, were certainly more in demand in heavily Catholic Mexico than they would be in all but a few U.S. cities. But other merchandise, while strongly Mexican in flavor, had an attraction that was easy to translate.
A good example was D'Argenta-Forart, which offered massive silver renderings of swans, leopards, and giraffes, as well as Precolumbian artifacts reproduced in silver, to great effect. In its booth, Arte en Relieve de México displayed a variety of delicate fountains made of painted ceramic. The booth of Coleccion Lacandona, manned by Italian expatriate Fulvio Filipponi, featured charming ceramic mirrors, tiles, lamps, clocks, candleholders, boxes, and jewelry, much of it painted in midnight blue, terra-cotta, and gold.
A Scouting Expedition
Curious to see how Mexican retailers display these riches in their own stores, I scouted out the streets of Mexico City. At candle shop Flamma in the touristy Zona Rosa district, the dense selection consisted of simple candle shapes, with an emphasis on color and scent; a few brightly painted folk art pieces in the window enticed passersby to enter. At Labassi, an upscale gift store on Campos Eliseos in the ritzy Polanco neighborhood, linens, glassware, gift books, and pashmina shawls coexisted in a quiet, genteel atmosphere. And the stylish display windows, featuring white cutouts of modish ladies carrying bright handbags full of flowers, wouldn't have been out of place on the street's French namesake, the Champs Élysées.
Morales and his colleagues at Grupo Salpro want to continue to serve Mexican retailers and international buyers alike. Their plans for the future include building hotels in the area, so that attendees won't have to commute quite as far. They may also expand the building upward, if exhibitor growth demands it. But for now, settled in its new home, Sede del Regalo serves as a fine example of the treasures Mexico has to offer.
The next Sede del Regalo will be held January 16-20, 2001.
