Recap: NYIGF

The winter show season is an endurance race. Unlike the summer circuit that spans two months, the winter circuit jams everything into four weeks-—this year, the biggest shows piled into only 21 days. It’s not hard to see the wear and tear on faces of vendors who attend all the biggies; it’s even easier to hear the exhaustion in what they say.

Similar to Atlanta, buyers arrived in Dallas, L.A., Chicago, and New York with more questions than answers. The ability to look their reps and vendors in the eye helped settle some jittery nerves. By mid-day Friday in Atlanta, the mood was light and hopeful; in Dallas, the positivity continued as steely determination won out.

Unfortunately, by NYGIF, it was harder for retailers to discern what vendors were thinking as the wear and tear of the road began to cloud opinions. Buyers stood tall, but booth staffs began to get grumpy, recognizing how little time was left to rectify the matter.

The reality of what “down” meant became crystal clear on Tuesday, as the final major show drew to an end. Countless booths began offering “no minimum” opening orders, in addition to the “no minimum” reorders that sprung up two days before. After this show, with the exception of San Francisco, there was no more booth time to rely on. This was it.

The attitudes in booths followed a similar pattern. Vendors who spoke in hopeful terms on Sunday morning were far less positive by 3:00 yesterday afternoon. Fickle? In some cases, yes-—there are always those for whom enough will never be enough. In other cases, though, it was the cold slap of reality retailers have already accepted. Numbers just aren’t there right now, no matter where in the country you are.

Remember those vendors who went into Atlanta with high minimums and large pre-packs, as if it was still 2007? Well, they got their comeuppance this month, (finally) smacked square in the face with what retailers will-—and won’t-—put up with. One particular tabletop line is a classic example. They went into Atlanta with a 24-count prepack on a new release, take it or leave it. By Dallas, they backed it down to 18 pieces. By New York, the prepack disappeared entirely, replaced by a la carte ordering in multiples of two.

“What are companies thinking?” gushed one buyer in the booth. “Don’t they know what’s going on in the world?” When I mentioned it to another buyer I’d run into the day before, she shrugged it off, explaining that “Everyone wants my business right now. If a vendor is going to get cocky, I’m going to order elsewhere.”

My conern as this show season winds down is that the positive attitude born in Atlanta, then carried into Dallas, will be deflated by the time trucks finished loading up on the Javitz dock. True, business is tough and it’s hard to make ends meet, but attitude plays a big role in how we all approach this New Norm. Retailers figured out two months ago that they could either stand up tall and fight back the fear or let it beat them down. I hope vendors and reps will choose to do the same.

Otherwise, we’re headed into one very long, very cold winter.