OffPrice TV
Jason Prescott interviews Don Browne @ The Off Price Show in Las Vegas: March 2010
August 09 Off-Price Show Highlights!
Produced by CorpShorts (www.corpshorts.com)
August 09 Off-Price Specialist Show delivers sold out exhibition of Values, Brands & Immediate Goods
More New Buyers, More New Exhibitors and Solid Order-Writing are indicative of off price market that continues to serve challenged retailers in search of solutions
A 10% increase in buyer attendance and an equal increase in exhibit space from last years show was the right formula for a very active order-writing marketplace at the August 09 Off Price Show. See testimonials from buying offices representing independent retailers, from key vendors both old and new, AND, from the buyers themselves! You will watch a lot of common themes among buyers with no connection to each other like, hidden gems, or great deals or bargains or having all the vendors in one place at one time and the efficiencies & values it allows retailers.
Testimonials on the Off Price Show Expansion!
Value Driven Buyers want to see more offerings and new categories!
The August 09 Off Price Show Post-Show Survey indicates that
- 52.1% of our buyers want to see more handbags & accessories at the show;
- 36.5% want to see more footwear;
- 22.9% want to see more designer;
- 21.9% want to see more home & gift; and
- 19.8% want to see more store display.
NOTE: In the same survey, 76% of the buyers source more than 10% of their in-store merchandise at the Off Price Show; with 1/3 sourcing more than 25% and almost 20% sourcing more than 50%.
Off Price Show Exhibitor R. G. Riley's Video
Highlights from the February 2009 Off Price Specialist Show
February Off-Price Specialist Show Brings it Home!
Exhibitors and Satisfied Buyers Report Heavy Buying Activity; Big Presence from New Boutique Customers, Internet Retailers & International Buyers
The Off-Price Specialist Show on February 15-18, 2009 was a huge success for the 450+ exhibiting on 4 levels of the elegant Venetian Grand Ballrooms in Las Vegas. Over 10,000 buyers, retailers and industry professionals an increase of 10% from the last show came to the official Off Price Show of Las Vegas Fashion Week to find great values in all categories of apparel from basics to popular brands to top designer as well as accessories, handbags and footwear.
The best news of the show, of course, was the order-writing of the buyers, said David Lapidos, Vice President for the Off Price Show. Our vendors are happy and the buyers seem to be very satisfied with their purchases. We are also thrilled to see a lot of new faces from the retail community who need our off price specialists to add more excitement to their stores.
New buyer Angelo Petta of The Urban Boutique in Thunder Bay, Ontario said the show exceeded my expectation. I left with many, many key contacts, made some great purchases and am very excited about the future thanks to Off Price. And Matthan Walker of Progressive Unlimited in Harlem was quite impressed with the really nice prices on good quality stuff during his first visit to Off Price. Walker and partner Chink Pope are also opening a new store on Chicagos south side, so they were pleased to have written one of their best winter orders for their mostly womens apparel and jewelry concepts.
David Abbate of Lady Rose Shops in West Hempstead, New York witnessed other new buyers getting into the act while leading the buyer tours. One new buyer an internet retailer began writing orders with an exhibitor right after the tour was over. She saw a handbag that she liked at one of the booths and went straight to the salesman to do business.
Online retailers represented a small percentage of the show, but are certainly a growth category of the Off Price. Consumers still need clothes and the savvy retailers are figuring out how to serve them without bricks and mortar, said Jason Prescott, President of Top Ten Wholesale.com. Through the Off Price Show, the internet retailers are able to offer the most aggressive pricing.
Seasoned Off Price Show buyers were also engaging in higher levels of buying. Penny Rosenberger, President of The Merchandise Network in New York stated I spent more money at this show than at any other Off Price Show. Its amazing that this is happening in this economy but my stores are in need of more value items.
"The Off-Price Show in February was extremely important to the continuation of building the price value relationship of our retail offerings, said AJ Nepa, Vice President / General Merchandise Manager for Variety Wholesalers, Inc. in Henderson, North Carolina. It also allowed us to continue building business opportunities with current resources and add additional resources in all categories. We were able to fill our specific needs."
Joni Dahan of Sapman Sportswear, Inc. in Los Angeles commented that The buyers were behaving as though business was booming. They were aggressive and satisfied with their purchases. It didnt feel like a sluggish economy at all as we had one of our best shows.
One aspect of the Off Price Show that wasnt new was another exciting first day with heavy buying activity. Josh Fhima of LA-based DeLUXE Off-Price said his company had a phenomenal first day, while Tony Christian of Character Marketing of Gardena, California wrote more orders in the first day at Off Price than at three shows put together at another (industry) venue. And Allen Bayer of Design Ideas Ltd./AJB Associates in New York said his group had the best first day ever. We moved all of our most exciting products.
Fhima and several other exhibitors were very impressed with the number of boutique customers coming through the show. While Sapman and new exhibitor Moussy Hamadani of Freddys Jeans in New York met a lot of international buyers at the February Off Price. Another trend exhibitors experienced was more in season buying that is, spring instead of fall. We sold mens spring and ladies swim at this show more than ever, said Joe Angers of New York-based Bounty Trading.
Off-Price TV presents Highlights of the August 2008 Show!
The most recent Off Price Specialist Show (August 23-26, Sands Expo & Convention Center, Las Vegas) lived up to its billing as the marketplace for the best deals in the apparel retail industry. The weak retail market and the anticipation of this show curbed buyers' normal pattern of earlier purchasing. The 489 vendors displaying were well-stocked to meet the needs of this motivated buyer attendance, which increased almost 20% from last year's show.
"The stars lined up perfectly. Our exhibitors were ready and the order-writing was fantastic from the start," said David Lapidos. "Exhibitors in just about every category had a very successful show."
"Customers know how important the first day (of Off Price) is. Even the lower-volume customers made appointments on the first day so they wouldn't lose out," reported Kay McQuade, owner of White Mountain Dry Goods Inc. from Dover, New Hampshire.
The second day of the show Sunday, August 24th was supposed to end at 6:00 PM. At around 7:15 PM, show management and security were finally able to politely kick out motivated buyers hungry for a wide range of quality products at the best price points.
"It was non-stop, and I got a big order from a major retailer at 4:00 pm on the second day," said Andy Shamsi of Cosmo Trading.
"Christmas comes only twice a year, and we're in the midst of it," said Ira Eisenberg, President of Wise Buys, Inc. "We had an awesome show!"
The Atlanta-based mens' apparel jobber greeted "a lot of new buyers" at their booth who came to explore the Off Price Show for "traffic builders" to "create more buzz in their stores." Several of the show's exhibitors had the same positive experience with both new and regular customers.
"People were here to buy," said Harry Levinson of Off-Price Trading out of Closter, New Jersey. "We did a lot of good business with existing customers, and opened up quite a few new accounts, including a new chain and exporters from outside the country."
LA-based Puzzles Enterprises reported new business activity from a lot of independent retailers who found OffPriceShow.com and OffPriceShowrooms.com through the search engines. This was complemented with a lot of repeat and regular business and solid international traffic.
Vendors in the non-apparel categories of Off Price also had a successful show as well. Mannequin supplier Display Importer.com experienced more traffic and lots of new business in only their third show. Jeff Ackerman of Capico Accessories met a lot of buyers looking for handbags, wallets and accessories. "It's been a very good accessories show." And gift/lifestyle/bed & bath vendor Burwell Industries developed many large accounts with mid to high range retailers, including a European company who picked up 45,000 units each of Burwell's entire product line.
Many exhibitors were "pleasantly surprised" by the volume of buyers and buying activity. One sales representative from New York-based Prime Garments "wrote big orders with small chains that we didn't know existed. It was an excellent show for us!"
Buyers also expressed their satisfaction with this Show. A buyer from one of the larger discount retailers said "They (the Off Price team) do a great job with the show. We found that we needed more than our usual two days to shop." Chad Ellington, owner of Cartel Clothing in Wellington, Florida found tremendous deals on sunglasses and urban wear for his store.
