Hardware Show organizers declare success
More than 2,800 exhibitors and nearly 30,000 industry professionals from 32 countries converged on the Las Vegas Convention Center for the National Hardware Show, held May 4-6. The Show, in its 71st edition, offered members of the hardware/home improvement industry the opportunity to discover new products, network, learn about industry trends and more.
“This year’s Show was, once again, a successful one,” says Rich Russo, vice president of the National Hardware Show. “We were thrilled to once again see so many industry professionals from all over the world, and from the feedback we’ve received so far, there were many new business relationships forged, new products discovered and best practices shared that will have an immediate impact on businesses across the industry.”
Attendees and exhibitors alike enjoyed their time at the Show and were impressed with the large crowd and positive atmosphere. Greg Schlecht, owner of Greg’s True Value in St. Francis, Wisconsin, was looking for new products and new ideas. “It’s always refreshing to see the new items that are on the market,” he says.
The Magna Industries booth stayed busy as attendees checked out everything the company had to offer. Company president Todd Whited says it was his 25th hardware show, and the first day of this year’s Show was probably the company’s best ever. “We had a spectacular day,” he says.
As in past years, the Show was divided into 15 product categories to help attendees and media navigate through the thousands of products and vendors. It was spread throughout the convention center’s North and Central halls, with the Tailgate, Backyard & BBQ category outside in the Silver Lot.
The Energy Efficient, Made in America, Emergency Preparedness & Disaster Recovery and Eco-Friendly areas continue to be popular, and in addition to exhibitors showcasing these products on the Show floor, product displays from each of these categories were showcased in the Featured Product Gallery, a new area that combined multiple new products displays into one area. Along with those product displays, the Featured Product Gallery also included New Product World, and just a few steps away, Inventors Spotlight and New Product Launch.
Conrad Traut, representing inventor Greg Wiseman of Wisick, LLC, showcased American-made Gallery Magic, which is a magnetic picture-hanging system.
“We wanted to try to just do the right thing,” Traut says of producing the products in the U.S. “From just an ethical standpoint, we want to focus on American jobs and American quality.”
Outside, Smokehouse Products was demonstrating its smoker box, which can be connected to any grill or other outdoor cooking device to smoke foods. “We’ve had quite a bit of good interest in our new one,” company representative Amy Jensen says.
The National Hardware Show was the place to find products source from companies from all over the world. This year, exhibitors from China, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Pakistan, Taiwan and Israel to name a few, were in attendance.