When the gift show at the Chicago Merchandise Mart folded, I took the loss hard. For almost 40 years our semiannual trip to “the Mart” had played an important part in our buying — and I’d been a speaker at the shows there for over a decade.  I loved the fact that this historical building was originally created as a wholesale marketplace, and that at the time it was the largest building in the world.

The Windy City Gift Show in Rosemont didn’t take the place of the Chicago Gift Market at the Mart, but at least it provided a place for us to see new merchandise from some of our local sales reps.  I attended the show there in February, and it was good to connect with the sales professionals who know me and my shop.

I’ve just learned that the Windy City Gift Show has been discontinued, leaving  America’s third largest city without a trade show for our industry.  Similarly, the San Francisco Gift Show, which I had attended in 2015, was dropped last year.

It could be argued that there are too many gift shows, especially at the same time, and that attending them all is a real challenge for vendors.  And of course it can be good to visit to a large show, where you can see a lot of merchandise in a few days.   But I will argue that a regional show has a several major advantages:

1. Products are more likely to be regionally relevant

2. There will be new vendors/makers/craftspeople from your area

3. Sales reps who know your store will be on hand

If we want these regional shows to survive, we need to attend them in order to prevent the downward spiral of fewer exhibitors and fewer buyers that is hard to reverse. I am sad that even though I made a special trip to Rosemont last month, as did other buyers, it was not enough to keep the Windy City Gift Show going. But I just came from the Minneapolis Mart, and am happy to say it seems to be alive and well.  I hope that is also true of the remaining regional shows in the US.

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder