The Eastern Outdoor Reps Association and the Southern Winter Reps Association had some surprises in store for anyone who attended their regional trade show in Greenville, S.C. last week. Over 600 different brands were represented by 155 sales reps and six independent manufacturers renting exhibit space.

The surprises came from the large number of corporate personnel in attendance at the show. While most of the show booths are usually manned exclusively by sales reps, over 55 people from various corporate headquarters were in attendance.

BOSS spoke with several members of management teams from different manufacturers and vendors and all of them agreed that the Greenville show is the largest regional trade show in the country in terms of attendance, square footage, and exhibitors.

After giving line presentations every hour on-the-hour at SIA, Jason Levinthol, founder of Line Skis, was able to give a few more presentations to retailers at the EORA show. Geoff O’Keef, president of Mountainsmith, told BOSS that the show has become more important to reach those that don’t attend OR. “This is such a vibrant area and there are so many independents here that this has become a very important show for us. Also, it is so far away from OR that several of the smaller retailers, and even the regional chains, don’t attend (the OR show),” he said.

Dave Ellingson, sales director at Cloudveil, told BOSS that the combination of ski and outdoor retailers attending makes the Greenville show extremely important for his company. Likewise, LaSportiva North America’s VP of sales, Mark Day, said that sitting down with retailers throughout the Southeast is an opportunity he can’t pass up. “It’s a much more relaxed atmosphere. I can spend more time with the retailers and we see a lot of traffic,” he said.

“It has become a very important show,” said Andy Howe, VP of business development at White Sierra. “It is the last bastion of independents. There are very few regions that have this many independent retailers.”

The only negatives appeared to come from several reps, who were all exhausted after a six-week long national and regional show schedule.

Debbie Motz, the Executive Director of EORA and an OIA board member, told BOSS that this has been the largest show for the EORA as far as exhibitors go. The show moved into the main hall at the Palmetto Expo Center, taking up 120,000 square feet. Over 657 buyers from 300 retail stores attended the show.


>>> It should be no surprise then that OIA is rumored to be looking at the Southeast for a future Rendezvous…