NHS show: Idea safari
The NHS show floor is a gaming experience unto itself. Busy and always flowing.
In the slammin’ middle aisle, Richard McKee pauses to talk about why he’s here: “I’m idea hunting.”
He runs what he calls, “an online retail business” Plentus Enterprises based in Rossville, Georgia.
“Specifically, I’m looking for safes and storage. This is my first show,” he says and, smiling, fades into the throng.
New products are being introduced too; all over the place.
At the Melnor booth, one of the hot new items front and center is the digital water timer XT meaning Extra Tough.
“Timers are getting big, what with the water shortages,” said Perry Campbell, VP sales.
The 78th annual National Hardware Show (NHS) at the Las Vegas Convention Center’s south hall is swimming in products, meet-ups and chat-ups.
Lynn Lyons, VP sales at Imperial Manufacturing Group shows off their all-aluminum railing kit now in the U.S. market, it was previously only in Canada.
“Lots of builder interest in this. We may have to adjust our marketing to not only hardware, but more pros,” he said.
Caterpillar introduces a hybrid fan that runs on a rechargeable battery pack and is sporting an 18-inch fan blade.
Craftsman has two new pumps, a utility pump and a sum pump on display in their booth space, right near the entrance to the convention hall.
It’s hard to imagine there was a pandemic two years ago, with the crowds buzzing in the busy aisles. People roll along the booths like lucky dice here at casino NHS.
Just down the aisle, at Orca coolers, their showing off the soft-sided cooler tote in a pastel blue green. It’s eye-catching.
And deep into the convention hall, in the popular NHS Habitat zone, Patrick Jeanmart, owner of Mercer Furniture pauses to say, “we’re looking for paint here at the NHS show; about 30% of this show relates to paint for us.”
He said they are also concerned with sustainability-related products, along with, “anything U.S.-made.”
The NHS show is going on simultaneously with the massive International Builders Show (IBS) and the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS). The crowds in the Las Vegas Convention Halls are enormous.
Outside in the cool afternoon breeze at the NHS Backyard, two attendees walking past observed about the show, “way bigger this year. Way bigger. Way colder too.”
NHS seems to have gotten that weather message already, as next year’s show is already planned for the end of March 2024 back in Las Vegas.
