Yacht Breeze
New member
Well, I went fully expecting to be disappointed and lamenting the good old days of Earls Court.
There were certainly far fewer exhibitors and reduced exhibition space. Clearly the organisers had problems selling space to marine companies and padded it out with 'luxury' goods - such as cars, antiques and such like. Some stands were empty and had obviously had things put on them simply to avoid a bland space...bit like a gap in a row of teeth. Wandering round the show did feel a bit like attending a wake and not a buzzing exhibition.
I passed one stand and heard an exhibitor on the phone saying there were more exhibitors than visitors. Certainly it was very quiet...bags of room to wander, no queues at the catering kiosks and salesmen happy to chat and delighted to have someone to chat to!
However despite all the negatives we had a good day. It was good to be able to compare products (we were looking for a new inflatable dinghy), an EPIRB, Liferaft and Navtex. We picked up a couple of bargains (Reeds at discounted price for instance) and never managed to get to the marina - which I understand was mainly secondhand boats anyway.
Clearly the show is in serious trouble. Visitor numbers are down, exhibitors are staying away, there was gloom from just about every salesman on every stand so how long it can last? Apparently the con tract has two years to run and doubtless the penalty clause for cancellation will be hefty, in which case the organisers may plod on to minimise losses. There may be attempts to artificially boost visitor numbers by allowing visitors to adjacent exhibitions to come in for free thereby increasing the 'gate' but the honest truth is they'll just be stargazers and not real, marine kit customers.
The demise of LBS seems inevitable...there's really only one serious show in the UK and that's in Southampton.
We actually had a useful day at Excel but it is obvious the enterprise is not economically viable and so it's a case of when will it fold not if.
Happy Sailing.
Trevor Taylor.
I
There were certainly far fewer exhibitors and reduced exhibition space. Clearly the organisers had problems selling space to marine companies and padded it out with 'luxury' goods - such as cars, antiques and such like. Some stands were empty and had obviously had things put on them simply to avoid a bland space...bit like a gap in a row of teeth. Wandering round the show did feel a bit like attending a wake and not a buzzing exhibition.
I passed one stand and heard an exhibitor on the phone saying there were more exhibitors than visitors. Certainly it was very quiet...bags of room to wander, no queues at the catering kiosks and salesmen happy to chat and delighted to have someone to chat to!
However despite all the negatives we had a good day. It was good to be able to compare products (we were looking for a new inflatable dinghy), an EPIRB, Liferaft and Navtex. We picked up a couple of bargains (Reeds at discounted price for instance) and never managed to get to the marina - which I understand was mainly secondhand boats anyway.
Clearly the show is in serious trouble. Visitor numbers are down, exhibitors are staying away, there was gloom from just about every salesman on every stand so how long it can last? Apparently the con tract has two years to run and doubtless the penalty clause for cancellation will be hefty, in which case the organisers may plod on to minimise losses. There may be attempts to artificially boost visitor numbers by allowing visitors to adjacent exhibitions to come in for free thereby increasing the 'gate' but the honest truth is they'll just be stargazers and not real, marine kit customers.
The demise of LBS seems inevitable...there's really only one serious show in the UK and that's in Southampton.
We actually had a useful day at Excel but it is obvious the enterprise is not economically viable and so it's a case of when will it fold not if.
Happy Sailing.
Trevor Taylor.
I
