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| Sold-out TASM expands with ‘The Kids Shoe Box’ | | December 17, 2009 (USA) |  |
 As other industry tradeshows make adjustments in attempt to retain exhibitors and hold on to attendees, The Atlanta Shoe Market(TASM) continues to build on its amazing growth of recent years by staying true to its principles and practices. The 2010 Fall Market, scheduled for February 19-21 at Atlanta’s Cobb Galleria Center in the Renaissance Waverly Hotel, is sold out again, including a new section of 75 additional booths in the hotel’s ballroom.
The appropriately monikered “The Kids Shoe Box” will be the exclusive home for children’s styles at the TASM 2010 Fall Market.
Now playing host to nearly 1600 lines, the show has grown out of the 150,000 sq. ft. of space in the Galleria exhibit hall. “We accommodated several manufacturers in the halls and meeting rooms
adjacent to the exhibit hall for the Spring Market in August, but
we still need more room,” explained Laura Conwell-O’Brien, show manager and executive director of the Southeastern Shoe Travelers
Association (SEST), sponsor of the show. “Setting up a special location that can handle an entire category is the most convenient and productive way to serve both exhibitors and attendees.”
Being “convenient” and “productive” are the two primary reasons The Atlanta Shoe Market has become what many manufacturers and retailers consider their most important show of the season. Even as the show has multiplied in exhibitors and attendees in recent years, Conwell-O’Brien and the SEST Board of Directors have persisted in their single goal: to make the show the best place for the industry to do business. “As the industry’s only non-profit, association-sponsored show, we have always been more concerned about doing what’s best for our industry as opposed to what would put the most money in our pockets,” she said. “The bottom line is making it easy for retailers to work with the manufacturers and do their buying for the coming season.”
While the show has built its reputation for being the best show to conduct business, attendees also give high marks to the show’s
social and educational opportunities. Now a regular at the semi-annual show, Ellen Campuzano’s Colour Trend seminar has proven its value in forecasting the trends that will drive footwear and accessory styles for the coming seasons, and draws increasingly large crowds each show.
Often referred to as the “buying show,” The Atlanta Shoe Market addresses that bottom line commitment in all ways possible:
attending is convenient and eminently affordable, and with all lines under one roof, it is easy for retailers to see and compare
styles, meet with representatives and place their orders for the coming season.
The Atlanta Shoe Market is held twice a year in Atlanta, Ga., to feature fall and spring styles respectively. The show is sponsored by the Southeastern Shoe Travelers Association(SESTA), which was founded in 1942 and today counts more than 750 industry
representatives as members. The Atlanta Shoe Show ranks among the 10 largest shoe trade fairs in the world. | | | | Atlanta Shoe Market | |
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