Nielsen Expositions confirmed that it set records for buyer, store and overall attendance at the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Salt Lake City Jan. 19-22. The show also drew a record number of exhibitors, easily making it the largest ever winter show.
The attendance gains were a relief for many in the industry, given the nearly complete lack of snow across the lower 48 states in the six weeks leading up to the show. They also bode well for the SIA Snow Show, which was expected to draw 20,000 to Denver at the end of last week.
Areas of large growth for ORWM included a nearly 30 percent increase in retailers from the Northeast, a jump in footwear brands, which now account for nearly a quarter of all exhibitors, the arrival of iconic brands such as Burton and high-profile launches such as new apparels line from Quiksilver Mountain and La Sportiva. Overall attendance reached 21,000.
“This show was exactly what we'd want to see in a show,” said Greg Thomsen, managing director at Adidas Outdoor, which paid $25 in cash in November to acquire the Five-Ten climbing shoe brand in November and hopes to hit $500 million in global revenue in 2015. “We're seeing the buyers, the magazines and editorial and all the athletes we want to see all in one place so it's a really efficient use of our time, energy and costs.”
“The quality of buyers was more than what we hoped for,” said Beth Steele, director of sales for Burton. “Walking around the show we were invigorated because sometimes you start to feel like you know everyone you need to know, but we met a lot of people who really inspired us. There was a lot of energy and different types of brands than we expected and I think we all felt overwhelmed by the positivity of the show.”
