Sports Retailers Follow the Action at Trade Expo
Operators of many Orange County companies moved south for a few days last week, gathering in San Diego for the popular Action Sports Retailer Trade Expo.
Some 18,400 people descended on the San Diego Convention Center for the three-day show, including 7,400 buyers representing 3,542 stores, show director Court Overin said.
“The feedback I’ve gotten over the last few days was [that], as a business event, it was one of the most successful we’ve ever had,” Overin said Wednesday. Jack’s Surfboards of Huntington Beach said it placed $1 million worth of orders from Thursday to Saturday.
This is not to say folks weren’t also having a good time.
As manufacturers presented their goods, skateboarders strutted their skills on ramps on the upstairs convention floor. As spectators watched from the sidelines on the second day of the show, an amplified voice asked the burning question: “Anybody go to the Hurley party last night?”
The Hurley party--that’s Bob Hurley, who presented his new surf-wear line at the trade show--reportedly was quite a bash. (Hurley has been in the spotlight since he decided to split from Billabong after handling its U.S. operations for 15 years.) At one point, hundreds of people were lined up to get into the party at Papa Jacks, a nightclub in San Diego’s downtown Gaslamp Quarter, said Mike Lesher, Hurley’s national sales manager.
“The pit was totally rocking,” he said. “It was the best stinkin’ party we’ve ever had.”
But we were talking about business . . .
The expo, which draws people from around the world, had even more global flavor this year, Overin said, with 1,230 international buyers, about 100 more than usual. Although the expo had mild symptoms of the “Asian flu,” with 100 fewer attendees than usual from Asian and Pacific Rim countries, it drew an increasing number of buyers from Europe, Latin America, South Africa, Australia and Canada, Overin said.
“That’s good for our exhibitors,” he said, since companies were able to pick up distributors from countries where they had not previously done business.
