Greetings: We drove 225 miles down to the Big E RV show in West Springfield, Mass yesterday and were quite disappointed after spending 4 hours at the show. It's a big show with hundreds of booths and displays in 3 large fairground buildings. My main beef is that while there were a LOT of trailers and towables of all sorts there were exactly 3 Class A motorhomes in the whole place. Fortunately they were Winnebagos that's what we're interested in so it wasn't a total wasted trip. Certainly anyone that was seriously looking for a new Class A and expected to see a variety of them would have been very disappointed. Also, out of the hundreds of booths, I'd estimate 85% of them were novelty items, flea market junk and other stuff totally unrelated to RVing. Despite all that, it was wall to wall people so what do I know anyway... I do know I won't go again next year..
FB in Vt.
The recent Seattle RV show was the same. According to our sources, towables are hot, class A's are not, so the dealers bring what sells. As far as the novelty items go, down here at Quartzsite it was the same in the Big Tent. 127 novelty booths, 97 RV related.
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Alpenliter wrote: towables are hot, class A's are not, so the dealers bring what sells.
So it appears as though the dealers at the show were promoting their best sellers. Makes sense.
As to the vendors, anybody can buy a booth. Nobody is 'juried-in' as they would be to an arts & crafts exhibition/sale for example. You pay the money, you can sell whatever junk you please.
Alpenliter wrote: The recent Seattle RV show was the same. According to our sources, towables are hot, class A's are not, so the dealers bring what sells. As far as the novelty items go, down here at Quartzsite it was the same in the Big Tent. 127 novelty booths, 97 RV related.
Same thing here in south eastern Virginia. Two shows so far in these parts and 90% towable products on display. I wonder just how many sales Bath Fitters get from their booth. Let me think, should I spend my money on a new RV or turn my bathroom into a spa? About the same price. Maybe I should get leaf guards for the house gutters?
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The DW and I went to the Pomona show, I'm guessing in '06 (before the downturn) and it was great. Basically, almost all manufacturers were represented (there were more back then) and just about one of every Class A model. It was a lot of fun.
Almost every post about someone going to an RV show 'recently', sounds the same, and it's just a sign of the times. Here's to wishing and working for a full recovery for the RV industry and, more importantly, our country !! (jmho)
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I went on Saturday and can't disagree. The Young Building had the worst venders! I think there was only one token campground in the bunch, but that's where they also stuck Morgan Resorts, so maybe it was planned out.
I noticed the dearth of Class A's. I think the price is so high the dealers aren't bringing them into their lots. Did you notice the huge number of truck campers? Never saw so many available.
I'm more interested in a new towable, and the selections were interesting. I didn't see any big price reductions.
The Big E charges big bucks for the facilities, and even as a non-profit, they need to fill the spaces to pay the high overhead.
I'd like to see a flea market area with only camping related items. That would be fun!
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