Subscribe
Community
Great Big Home and Leisure Show hosts first vendor show
Successful event to spawn more, maybe in spring
Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by EMILY BARNES
Christy Orliff of the Appliance Source uses the can't-miss strategy of chocolate-covered strawberries to attract visitors to her booth at the Great Big Home and Leisure Show. Peyton Mooningham, 3, right, grabs a strawberry, while David Michalski, area sales manager for General Electric watches.
|
E-Mail This Article
Putting together the Great Big Home and Leisure Show that recently dominated a rink at the Capitol Clubhouse in Waldorf was a lot like planning an elaborate wedding.
At least that's what a show organizer said.
"It is like a wedding," said Karen Berry, a marketing specialist who owns Square Watermelon Marketing, who along with business partner Eddie Kloiber formed Ultimate Consumer Tradeshows. "We were going to do this two years ago but [Kloiber] got cold feet."
A couple of years went by and Kloiber called Berry while she was on vacation and told her he was ready to take the plunge, for real this time.
Berry had heard it all before, but this time Kloiber was committed to seeing it through to the end.
"I could sense a turn in the economy," said Kloiber, who owns Empire Graphics (the store on Crain Highway with the big paint bucket on the roof.) "Businesses were starting to come back to us."
With their backgrounds working with small businesses, Kloiber and Berry figured now was a good time to get as many interested vendors signed up. Leads came in from all over, friends of friends of friends spread the word and signed up to be a part of the show.
Business owners in the Southern Maryland area were traveling to other counties, other states even to participate in trade shows. But there wasn't a local venue to allow such networking in their own backyard.
"I'm so grateful that they decided to do this," said Christy Orliff, owner of the Appliance Source, a builder distributor of 30 major brands. Orliff owns the store in Mechanicville. Her sister, Linda, owns branches in Annapolis and Easton. "If they didn't do it, I was going to have to and it's [a] massive [undertaking]."
Berry and Kloiber decided that Capital Clubhouse in the middle of Waldorf was a great location for the inaugural event for several reasons.
"It's centrally located; it's clean, bright. Parents could drop their kids off to skate and come to the show," said Berry, who added that the proximity to area restaurants was also a plus. At other trade shows, it can feel like vendors are on an "island for three days … and those are some long days," Berry said.
She and Kloiber figured the home show was going to be a success when people showed up at the clubhouse at 9 a.m. Friday — even though the show didn't open for guests until 3 p.m. that day.
By Sunday evening, Kloiber estimated about 3,000 people dropped by the event to mingle with vendors who offered services from floor installation to bathroom and kitchen remodels; from spa services, hot tubs, golf carts, windows and sunrooms to a travel agent.
"Most of the shows are home and garden," Kloiber said. "We went with home and leisure to tie it in with the sports and recreation [aspect] of the Capital Clubhouse."
The personal touch was another selling point, Berry said.
"You can shake the hand of the man who will be in your house, building," Berry said. "It also gives you a chance to feel them out and what they're about."
With displays that are almost "move in ready" — a bathroom and kitchen from Broad Creek Kitchens was ready for its close-up — the vendors were clearly there to impress.
"It's important being in the local community," said Jeff Stewart of Clear Choice, a vinyl replacement window company. Berry said that along with Orliff, Stewart was one of the vendors who gave her the most "leads" in the area's business community.
Vendors also got the chance to network. Orliff has business relationships with several of the builders and contractors at the event, but still made a mental note to check in with the ones she didn't.
Once word was out that a trade show was launching in Southern Maryland, Berry and Kloiber had no problem finding vendors.
Seventy companies took over the 90 spaces allotted for the fair; even the corners were filled and about 10 other vendors set up outside. Private rooms used for parties at the clubhouse were available for vendors and customers to hammer out details and sign contracts.
"We tried to think of everything," said Berry, who said she put her heart into the show and hopes it'll become an annual event.
"We have no way of knowing if it'll be successful," she said Friday afternoon soon after the doors opened. "We're just throwing a noodle to the wall and seeing if it sticks."
It did.
"We are trying to do another show … maybe the same time next year," Kloiber said Monday afternoon after the vendors left the building and things were going back to normal. "The vendors want it sooner. Maybe we'll try to get one together for spring."
