ANSOM

Fresh off the wires - The Army Navy Military Expo will conduct its Winter 2010 show concurrently with the 2010 SHOT Show in Las Vegas. Show dates for the ANM Expo will be January 18-20, while the SHOT Show is scheduled (at the Sands Expo Center) for January 19-22. Just to be clear, though, there is no official relationship between the two shows.

Industry supplier Rothco has already committed to two booths at the Expo. They will also have a presence at the SHOT Show.

In recent years, many other industry suppliers and a growing number of industry retailers have discovered that the SHOT Show presents an opportunity for penetration into new markets, especially law enforcement and tactical channels. However, the SHOT Show is not considered an order-writing show. The ANM Expo intends bring the instant commercial gratification of order-writing to exhibitors and buyers already in Las Vegas to attend SHOT.

The ANM Expo will take place at the Tuscany Suites & Casino, said to be located less than one mile from the Sands Expo Center. Like the South Point Hotel that was the previous (and distant) site of the previous ANM Expos, comfortable rooms will be available at attractive prices.

The move alongside SHOT may just be what the ANM Expo needs to turn the corner. We’ve been advocating the worth of the SHOT Show for some time now, and the combination of the new markets-oriented SHOT Show and the traditional army/navy mix at Expo should be a winner. We speak to more and more traditional army/navy retailers who have found SHOT to be a revelation. The change of Expo’s venue to a nearby facility is also a great development.

Let’s see how many other industry supplier mainstays follow Rothco’s lead into the ANM Expo, especially those companies that already have a presence at SHOT. And it will be interesting to see how many other suppliers that are ASD Show loyalists decide to cast their lot with the newly-energized Expo rather than wait another six weeks for the ASD Show (February 28 - March 3, 2010).

For more information about the January 2010 Army Navy Military Expo, cliquez-vous here:

For more information about the January 2010 SHOT Show, apply downward pressure to your pointing device here:

We are sorry to report the deaths of Krikor Kalayjian of K & K Company, Vernon, California; and Jack Nelson, sales representative for Abma Sales, Ontario, California.

Mr. Kalayjian, 79, was the owner of K & K, and one of the military surplus industry’s founding members. He passed away after a short illness on 22 May, with burial on 29 May, 2009. He was fondly known by his nickname, Koko.

Mr. Nelson passed away suddenly on 15 June at his home. No further details are available at this time. Mr. Nelson was a familiar and friendly presence at the ASD trade shows, and was a valuable member of the Abma Sales team.

More information on both of these tragic losses will be offered in the upcoming July issue of ANSOM.

Charles Goldberg, chairman of Army/Navy store I. Goldberg in Philadelphia, passed away on Wednesday, April 8 at the age of 87. He is survived by his wife Edie Ann and his daughter Nana Goldberg Delia, who ran the business with her father. He is also survived by a son, Carl; a brother, a sister and three grandchildren.

Details about Mr. Goldberg’s life and army/navy career here.

The March 15-18 running of the Military Tactical Outdoor Show in Las Vegas, which many anticipated as an economy-driven disappointment, turned out to be an unqualified success for the vast majority of exhibitors - not only in the military surplus aisles but as expressed in a general feeling of bonhomie throughout the show.

Traffic was moderate at best but the prevailing attitude seemed to be that buyers who felt they had the time and money to attend came with very serious order-placing intentions. As a result, smiles in the aisles for exhibitors who were very pleasantly surprised to have experienced a lucrative show.

More on this in our next issue of ANSOM. That would be April 2009. What were your impressions of the show?

P.S. Rumors running rampant that the Sands Expo Center exhibitors will be horning in to the Las Vegas Convention Center effective with the August 2010 ASD Show. The Show will then officially become a one-facility event.
P.P.S. Show management is dropping the “AMD” from the corporate name of the show. Only “ASD” will be used to identify these groups of shows henceforth.

If you’re an army/navy retailer or supplier looking to establish a thriving e-commerce site (meaning that you conduct sales through the site, not just showcase products and services), making the site user-friendly is key to seeing your customers through the transactional process from start to finish.
Common roadblocks to successful selling include inadequate or delayed access to shipping and sales tax costs and requirements, restrictive range of payment choices (PayPal should be included along with the usual credit cards), shopping carts that do not act in harmony with customers’ product selections and inaccurate product inventory reporting. For a brief discussion of some of these problems, click on through to the other side.

Gosh darn it, it’s trade show season again. How did that happen? Look out Las Vegas, here come the surpies.

First up we have the Army Navy Military Expo, taking up a three-day residence from February 15 -17 at the South Point Hotel just outside Las Vegas proper. The Expo overlaps directly with the Off-Price Specialist Show (Feb 15-18) at the Venetian on the LV Strip, then with aplomb segues into the MAGIC Show at the LV Convention Center (Feb 17-19).

We’re told that although the ANM Expo is not overpopulated with exhibiting firms that buyer pre-registration has been brisk, perhaps attributable to the concurrent troika of trade shows in Sin City.

Of course, the venerable and viable ASD/AMD Military Tactical Outdoor Show adorns the LVCC (along with the Gift Expo at the Sands and the Jewelry Show at the Mirage) on March 15-18. Exhibitors and buyers are looking forward to a good one, especially since it will be the traditionally stronger winter edition of the show. Need the 411 on that? Scoot on over here, then.

Milton Somberg, who founded industry supplier mainstay Rothco in 1953, recently celebrated his 85th birthday. Milton still works two days a week at Rothco’s Ronkonkoma, New York headquarters.

Congrats, Milton! Many more!

It’s January 2nd, and I can’t wait for 2009 to end.

You may (and should) feel differently. Sometime this year the economy will stop sucking, although how close any recovery will return us to the level of our best days remains to be observed. We also can’t say how much worse conditions will become before they get better. Unfortunately, there seems to be plenty of smackdown still in the works.

For our industry, the action starts right away with the ever-larger SHOT Show taking place in boring Orlando, January 15-18. Army/navy retailers should really take a gander at this show, as its exhibitor halls are becoming verdant with supplier firms that we all know and love. Retailers should join the many supplier firms that are finding purchase in the profitable and expanding law enforcement and tactical market.

February makes us shiver with every magazine that we deliver, but we should all warm to the Army/Navy Military Expo that will take up a three-day residence at the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas, February 15-17. There will be a chronological overlap with the MAGIC Show and the Off-Price Specialist Show, giving buyers additional reasons to hop on the next camel and make the trek to the desert.

Then in mid-March (15-18, to be somewhat precise), the venerable and viable ASD/AMD Military Tactical Outdoor Show (the component of the ASD/AMD Show that matters the most to us) embellishes the Las Vegas Convention Center. It’s still The Big Cigar of trade shows for the slice of heaven that is our military surplus industry.

Last year (2008) our industry lost many beloved citizens, some of them leaving us while still in the flower of youth. We wish continued good health and prosperity to all of our friends out there, and look forward to seeing many of you at the upcoming trade shows.

Jim Hernly passed away in October at the age of 65 after a long struggle with cancer. He was a familiar figure at the ASD shows, from the Hilton days to the Convention Center to the Sands.

A very friendly man and a passionate promoter of the company’s offerings, Hernly was with the Lorton, Virginia-based company for 38 years.

He leaves behind two daughters and four grandchildren; and many co-workers and industry colleagues that will miss him dearly.

More information right here

Sear-iously, this major retailer will launch a line of military-styled apparel nationwide in October 2008. The U.S. Army has agreed to license its marks and insignia to Sears, with licensing fees the Army that will be used to support military programs for troops and their families. According to Advertising Age (online, www.adage.com), the collection “will be made up of authentic lifestyle reinterpretations of the fit, design and performance of regulation uniforms and military-issued gear.”
The line will cover men, women and children (which covers most of us), and will include t-shirts, hoodies, denim and outerwear. Retail prices will range from $19.99 to $119.99.

For the details, please mosey on over to here.