SHOT Show Breaks Attendance Records

Overall attendance was 25,291, which included 12,857 retailers, 11,234 exhibitor personnel and 1,200 press professionals. Buyer registration was down 6.8 percent from the Atlanta show in 1999 and more than 20 percent below record attendance numbers in Las Vegas.

Exhibitors reported steady retailer traffic at their booths and strong sales throughout most of the Show, which ran January 11-14 at the New Orleans Convention Center. "We've had another great show," said Bob Morrison, executive vice president and COO of Taurus International Firearms.

Those comments were echoed by most exhibitors, who said business was good and not affected by a lower-than-usual turnout of attendees. "We've done fantastic business with the buyers who are here," Morrison said.

Reports of a slowing economy may have caused some buyers to be more cautious than in past years, but sales nevertheless reflected a genuine optimism in the year ahead. "Historically our industry does fairly well when the economy slows down, so even if that's what ultimately happens I believe we'll all be fine," observed Steve Hornady, president of Hornady Manufacturing and chairman of the Hunting and Shooting Sports Heritage Foundation.

People were here to do business," said Art Wheaton, vice president and general manager of worldwide sales at Remington. "I'm conservatively optimistic about the year ahead. The people with good products and good marketing will have a good year. The ones who don't have those things won't."

Those of us who have attended numerous SHOT SHOWS may loose sight of the tremendous international market which the SHOT SHOW offers to our exhibitors, particularly to new exhibitors," said Robert T. Delfay, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. "I spoke with one new exhibitor during the closing minutes of the Show who struggled to find the words to explain how successful the Show had been for his new company. 'We came here with an idea and are going home with a promising company,' he said."

Many other first-time exhibitors were equally pleased with the Show. Andy Nelson chose the SHOT SHOW for the premier of a new product. "It was a big gulp for us to come here financially, but the response to our new String-o-Wings product has gone beyond my most optimistic expectations," said Nelson. "The excellent media exposure alone has returned our investment." Nelson said he plans to double his booth space at next year's Show.

This Show has been fantastic for us," said Shari-Lyn Fix, vice president of sales for H&R 1871. "The interest in our products has been great. We've gotten a lot of new leads and return customers. This has been one of the better shows for us."

Marlin, which was named the SHOT Business Manufacturer of the Year Award at the Show, reported that sales were good. "We noticed that buyers are being conservative this year, but our usual orders were good," said Tony Aeschliman. "We were pleased with the Show." (posted January 2001)