Let’s talk about CHA. In the past, we have been willing to overlook complaints about our advertisers. Most magazines live by an unspoken rule that you do not publish anything negative about your advertisers. This may have been a courtesy of the past, but moving forward we are not going to turn a blind eye to issues that are too big to ignore. The bottom line in our opinion is that CHA is out of touch with the independent retailers and our vendors.

This was blatantly obvious when walking the most recent Winter 2011 CHA Show. The aisles seemed bare and everyone was complaining.  The main buzz at the show was how long can CHA carry on.

We asked for your comments and got an ear full.  Here is the gist of it. Vendors end up paying between 10 to 40 thousand dollars to exhibit but their buyer exposure is less than 20% of the actual stores in America.   This is why vendor count at CHA is so low. They have learned from past experience that they just not getting in front of enough buyers.
Retailer count is also down. We can only guess that there were about 200 stores in attendance because CHA  has declared to provide the actual numbers.   This is a huge gripe with exhibitors. CHA asks all the right questions during attendee registration, but has only given general information about attendee stats. This is ridiculous. It takes 10 minutes to query the database for the right information, therefore, there must be a reason they will not release it.  If I am a scrapbook vendor, I do not care how many quilter’s or tole-painters were at the show.

Another gripe is that they are allowing anyone with a pulse into the show. A few years back you had to provide a copy of your business license, tax id, photo of your store and a blood sample to get into ACCI or HIA. Now you can portray to be anyone and get into the show. This really is a waste of time for the Vendors. They do not want to be spending their time with individuals who are not buyers. Many of these attendees are just there for the make and takes and give-a ways. This costs the vendors more money. You would think that CHA could do a better job of this, but with the buyer count so low you can see why they would want more people in the aisles. It is a false illusion.

Another issue is the UNION. As if paying to rent a square of concrete wasn’t expensive enough, wait until you get a load of the additional fees for dray age, electricity, telephone lines and carpet. But to really see unions at their best, see how many union guys it takes to hang a sign. And then there are the union Nazis that turn you in for running a drill or trying to set up your own booth. Read the fine print: this is not allowed. You have to hire the union’s help for this. Wait until you see this bill. This is what vendors have been putting up with for years, but from what we can tell, everyone has had it.

The consensus is that CHA is too expensive for vendors as well as retailers, and without a better showing from the industry, it is a waste of marketing dollars for many. Vendors can offer larger incentives and discounts at their booths all they want, but the bottom line is that even if the booth space was free, the expense to exhibit or attend a trade show out of state is still too great when you consider that the buyers just are not there.   As you can

imagine, CHA did not want this editorial to run. We have already heard from their PR department and many others. We now share the issues with CHA and asked for accurate statistics but did not receive a response.

The scrapbook industry needs their own show as well as new leadership to represent the interests of our people. Independent retailers are facing real issues that are just not being addressed. Everyone is shelling out a lot of money but what are they getting in return? This is not an industry for the elite few but we are well on our way. Take all the independents away and all you have left is a small handful of large chains.  What will happen to all the vendors when the only buyers left are Michael’s, Joann’s and Hobby Lobby?  It won’t be very fun, TRUST ME!

Readers should note that the above statements are the opinion of this magazine based on interviews, emails and discussions with industry professionals as well as personal experience. We wish to disclose
that despite our interest in promoting a new expo experience for the industry, our position reflects the general opinion of our research.

Written by:
Scrapbook Business Magazine