Grassroots Connect, the twice-annual buying show of the Grassroots Outdoor Alliance (GOA), returns in June at the Knoxville Convention Center to host “more than 400 retail buyers from 206 retail doors nationwide with the outdoor world’s best-known and best-loved brands for nearly 10,000 pre-scheduled appointments,” said the association.
With “215 total brands in attendance, including 77 in the Discovery Marketplace, this spring’s Connect will be the largest collection of vendors ever gathered by the group,” the association continued.
The breadth of attendance comes with “broadly positive sales among Grassroots’s 100 member retailers, which recently reported sales increases of more than 4 percent in the last 12-month period. The strong support from retailers and vendors can also be attributed to the long-term consistency of show dates, which are returning to early June for the 25th consecutive year, dating back to the first Grassroots buying show in 1998 in Lake Tahoe, CA,” said the association.
“Grassroots Connect originally honed in on early dates as a planning convenience for vendors and retailers, but the June timing of the event has become even more valuable in the last few years as order deadlines have moved up and windows have shrunk for available showing time,” said Gabe Maier, president of GAA. “Both retailers and brands are acutely aware that there are only so many events that people can go to and only so much time that they can be away from their core business. That shared recognition among all attendees is a key reason Grassroots Connect is such an effective event.”
Grassroots Connect will begin on June 11 with Exhibitor Move-In and Education Day, followed by four days of pre-scheduled show meetings, lunchtime learning sessions and special evening events from June 12-15. For more information, go here.
