Home-Show Season, who's been, who's going...what are you buying?

[TwinCitiesHotSpring]

I'll be putting in 45+ hours in the next fours days weeding through the "shoppers" in an attempt to move some product...not really my style but it is part of the business.  What are you guys looking to buy? anyone shopping specifically for a spa? all the big players will be under one roof, does anyone want any pictures of anything specific?

I'll admit that working a show can be tiresome, they are definitely fun to attend if your in the market for anything home/backyard related

[Hottubguy]

Who did you make out. Sell many tubs?  I'm doing one in march. I hate doing them too but have some leftover 2012's I need to get rid of to make room for the new ones I have coming in

[TwinCitiesHotSpring]

Who did you make out. Sell many tubs?  I'm doing one in march. I hate doing them too but have some leftover 2012's I need to get rid of to make room for the new ones I have coming in

spent the whole day out there yesterday, got a couple quotes out there and scheduled 2 in-store wet tests, Wed/Thur are historically pretty uneventful at this show so I'll have to see what this afternoon and Sat/Sun bring...its a hot tub shoppers dream out there this year though...Hot Spring, Jacuzzi, CalSpa, Marquis, Bullfrog, Sundance, Maax, D1, Softtub..if you can't find something you like out here than I don't know what to tell you 

with that said one would think most people would take their time and due diligence to shop competitors, look at features, etc. but nope most people want a price written on a brochure and walk around comparing like they are shopping for a TV, makes me laugh, beyond the size of it features don't matter, jets don't matter, insulation doesn't matter, just the price....is there any other product on earth over 5k that would be shopped like that??

[Jacuzzi Jim]

  Our homeshow starts next weekend, only 3 days.   There use to be HS,Sundance,Beachcomber,Marquis and us Jacuzzi inside.  With D1 and Cal-spa dealer outside in a tent.    Now there is only us and the D1 owned by Jacuzzi now and he also sells Coast because we took Cal-spa from them, which we promptly dropped after less than 2 years with them.    Homeshows out here are a dying breed, they are great if you want to talk to a window,bankers and builder type people.  There are others out there but you get the gist.    Good luck with yours!  I am hoping ours goes well, with the economy rebounding  it should be good! 

[Portland James]

Portland here! We just finished a 5 day event and it was rocking!

We crushed last years numbers. I mean 3 to 1 crushed.

The usual suspects. Hot Springs (us), Marquis, LA Spas and a local yokel selling his “Made in Oregon FOR Oregon” low end stuff. I wonder what is done for an Oregon Spa that is different from a tub made for Tennessee or Wisconsin.

1 sore back, 2 sore feet, 3 days with a raspy voice and a stack of orders at the end of it.

All in all it was a great event.

[Hot Spring Ace]

Portland here! We just finished a 5 day event and it was rocking!

We crushed last years numbers. I mean 3 to 1 crushed.

The usual suspects. Hot Springs (us), Marquis, LA Spas and a local yokel selling his “Made in Oregon FOR Oregon” low end stuff. I wonder what is done for an Oregon Spa that is different from a tub made for Tennessee or Wisconsin.

1 sore back, 2 sore feet, 3 days with a raspy voice and a stack of orders at the end of it.

All in all it was a great event.

Welcome Portland. Glad to have you, go soak your feet and back and stick around.

[PrecisionPoolMA]

We are hearing good things from other Marquis dealers up the east coast and are planning on a weekend event the end of April. We have been out of the home show biz for a few years.

Would like to hear more about how you guys are doing as we are already planning for next years events if things keep going the way they are going.

-Jay
 North of Boston Marquis Dealer

[Hottubguy]

@jay I went to one in south Boston last weekend and I was shocked that te only tub guy there was Crocker selling master and artesian. I was there as a consumer but i did hang out by, the master booth and was shocked with the amount of foot traffic he was getting. I don't know how that translated as far as numbers go but if I was closer to Boston it would be one I would check out doing in the future.

[TwinCitiesHotSpring]

Well it was a long show, didn't quite hit our numbers, then again we always shoot for the moon of course ;-) We had a Covana setup out there and it was the star of our booth, I must have talked to/demonstrated it for 300 people.  I would probably say CalSpa had the most sales which is no surprise because there product is perfect for home-show's and the lack of critical thinking that takes place by most people shopping at a home-show...ie "whats the cheapest spa we can find" rather than "what's the most efficient" or "who has a rock solid warranty" etc. etc.

[PrecisionPoolMA]

@hottubguy that is good to hear!

Marquis is dying to get into the Boston show and now that they have us as a dealer they are pushing!

Ya St. Cyr's has not done that show since we left to go on our own, they used to leave there with 40-50 sales in the good days.

I am surprised Artic or New England Spa and Sauna was not there?

I went to a small show last weekend in Salem NH to check it out. Good foot traffic and the one pool guy there had 2 dream maker tubs set up. He had a couple people in the booth each time I walked by but not enough to get me excited about that show, the layout kind of sucked.

[Hottubguy]

Had decent results this past weekend. Did a three day show and we had a lot of foot traffic not many impulse buys though. I'm hoping the residual sales come over the next few wees