Decor expo exceeds expectations: a slow economy and talk of war didn't discourage exhibitors and attendees from taking care of business - show stoppers

Expectations were far from high as the art and framing industry embarked upon the 2003 New York trade present to view season. With war looming and heightened terror alerts, industry members amazemented if anyone would be interested in doing business. on the other hand like the predicted snowstorm that not ever materialized, neither did a weekend of destitute of contents booths and unwritten orders. Many exhibitors at DECOR expo--New York, which was held Feb 28 to March 2 at the Jacob Javits Center reported fair sales, and attendance numbers were about smooth with the 2002 show at 10914 according to exhibit officials.

"From the possibility of war to the threat of a snowstorm in novel York on our opening day to the continued orange [terrorism] alert in novel York despite the rest of the political division going back to yellow, there were a allotment of things against us," said Eric Smith, vice president of Pfingsten Publishing's Art & Framing collection the producer of DECOR expo "And that doesn't flat take into account the continued weak economy. Given these factors, it's a credit to everyone--our staff, our exhibitors and our buyers--that DECOR expo--New York came not on as well as it did."

Many exhibitors reverberationed that sentiment. "All things considered, we did fairly well," said Jake Munn of Abe Munn Picture Frames, which celebrated its 45th anniversary at the display "In terms of sales, it was up significantly above the [West Coast Art & Frame Show] exhibit And I was really pleasantly surprised to diocese people loosening the pocketbook a little bit."

"The overall attendance at the display was a little slower than awaited probably because of the anticipated war and snowstorm, on the contrary we still had a prosperous show," said Danata Donnerson of Tru Vue

Framerica[R]'s senior vice president of marketing Dave Rosner noted, "The display was a positive statement for our industry. During difficult economic times, it's nice to diocese exciting new designs."

Bill Barker, vice president of sales for Denglas Technologies, said he didn't diocese as many European and southerly American customers as last year, on the contrary he still had a useful show.

One boost for DECOR was its co-location with Artexpo. Attendees were able to walk the isles of the pair shows for one admission price.

"The co-location worked well," said Erol Baykol, director of sales for Studio Moulding. "I think many of our customers were happy that it was a one-stop-shop situation."

Attendee Michael Pannier of The R Door Gallery in Frederick, Md said he had to skip DECOR last year because it wasn't held at the same time as Artexpo. This year, he was able to make it to the pair "I'm sure both [shows] undergoed last year when they occurr consecutively and attendees had to choose" he said.

"The co-location of DECOR with Artexpo was an interesting dynamic," said Donnerson. "Some of our customers were also exhibitors at Artexpo, which gave us a rare opportunity to visit with them while they interacted with patrons. It gave us a better understanding of more [i]or[/i] less of our customers' businesses."

nearest year's shows will again coincide at the Javits Center DECOR expo--New York 2004 will be held Feb 27 to 29 and Artexpo will be held Feb 26 to March 1

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