Second Blade Show?

The first couple knife shows I attended was the Blade West knife show.
It was in Portland. My thoughts were that the problem was not the city but the hotel where they had the show.
It was a hotel in need of renovation and it had that dirty motel room smell.
Somewhere like the fairgrounds or a convention center would have been better in my opinion.

Last time we attended the knife show in Pasadena California it seemed like we were going through airport security.
They would not let people bring in large bags or strollers and even searched people coming in.
Everyone was pissed off for being treated like criminals.
 
My thought is that it doesn't matter where the show is for the smiths. Unless you just happen to live near the location it will most likely require a flight with 1 connection to get anywhere in the US. What should matter is if the location will draw customers. Like the smiths, unless a collector just happens to live near the show, they will have to travel to the show. I would think they would be more willing to make the trip to the show if there were other reasons (Vegas!) to go to that location.
 
I live just outside of Portland and have attended the last 2 shows there which were in conjunction with the largest antique/collectibles shows on the West Coast. Sold 1 knife this year. The OKCA show in Eugene is dying a slow death. I plan to attend this year only because I will have a full line of new kitchen knives, new filet knives, and new boat knives.

IMHO, San Francisco is the best choice for a centrally located show. One very important thing to remember is it is San Francisco, NOT Frisco. Call it Frisco and don't be surprised if some local takes you out to the Bay and feeds you to the crabs. San Francisco's summer is September and October with sunny, warm days and cool nights. June, July, and August (high season) is colder than the Arctic.

The ideal place to hold the show would be San Mateo. Excellent local restaurants and hotels, short train ride from downtown San Francisco night life and much less expensive than downtown. If I sound like I work for the the Chamber of Commerce, I lived in the Bay Area for 35 years and loved it.

Tim
 
Interesting about San Mateo. I joke about San Francisco, but is is a VERY nice place to visit but for the cost and one must remember that the do have a big retail knife shop, We Be Knives, right in the middle of one of the main tourists areas, Pier 39, so SF can't be anywhere near as bad about knives as say New York or as they are about guns. When I was there, I avoided expensive hotels by staying up in Marin County right next door to the Civic Center, but that is where my business was and it was a bit of a drive into town.
tim37a said:
I live just outside of Portland and have attended the last 2 shows there which were in conjunction with the largest antique/collectibles shows on the West Coast. Sold 1 knife this year. The OKCA show in Eugene is dying a slow death. I plan to attend this year only because I will have a full line of new kitchen knives, new filet knives, and new boat knives.

IMHO, San Francisco is the best choice for a centrally located show. One very important thing to remember is it is San Francisco, NOT Frisco. Call it Frisco and don't be surprised if some local takes you out to the Bay and feeds you to the crabs. San Francisco's summer is September and October with sunny, warm days and cool nights. June, July, and August (high season) is colder than the Arctic.

The ideal place to hold the show would be San Mateo. Excellent local restaurants and hotels, short train ride from downtown San Francisco night life and much less expensive than downtown. If I sound like I work for the the Chamber of Commerce, I lived in the Bay Area for 35 years and loved it.

Tim
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Still got the ivory ban deal in Cali. It just wouldn't work for a major show like Blade.
 
Yeah, that would preclude some of our friends like Mark Knapp and Don Hanson from attending. Like I implied before, I think that Oregon combines a number of pluses compared to some of the other states out there. Vegas would be the best alternative, but perhaps we haven't considered the possibility that some people don't want to have a show in Vegas.
Horsewright said:
Still got the ivory ban deal in Cali. It just wouldn't work for a major show like Blade.
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The facts are:
1) They tried to host a show in Portland and it failed.
2) Las Vegas already has two shows, one of which is successful
3) Prior to the ivory ban, the Bay area shows were very successful.

The population of the Bay area is about 7 million people. There is a high number of people who have the income to afford custom knives.

IMO, the ivory ban in California is not enough of a reason to not have a show there. No one is precluded from attending. Knifemakers who chose to attend would have to adjust to the show conditions and use other materials.

Chuck
 
Chuck, I was thinking about the YOUNG well heeled potential customers in the Bay Area and how you could probably shake a few of them out of the tree. What is your opinion re some major corporate sponsors driving this choice to some degree? I am not sure if that poll was directed more at potential exhibitors or attendees, but they seemed to talk a lot about the factory tour thing.
Alpha Knife Supply said:
The facts are:
1) They tried to host a show in Portland and it failed.
2) Las Vegas already has two shows, one of which is successful
3) Prior to the ivory ban, the Bay area shows were very successful.

The population of the Bay area is about 7 million people. There is a high number of people who have the income to afford custom knives.

IMO, the ivory ban in California is not enough of a reason to not have a show there. No one is precluded from attending. Knifemakers who chose to attend would have to adjust to the show conditions and use other materials.

Chuck
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I don't see portland doing too well for this, great for a local show, but not for getting large amounts of people to flock to it. That antique show thats now doing knives as well ive heard sales for makers not so good. and ask any okca vender how little sales happen from the eugene show.... Im betting the only reasons blade is considering it is oregons loose knife laws and allowing ivory. Combined with benchmade being in portlands backyard.

Seattle would be a better choice with much larger economy, and population. Seattle has 1.5m more people in metro area than pdx. 3.8m to 2.3m and has many more direct connect flights out of SeaTac. Its downsides are automatic knives arent legal here, and elephant ivory is banned. Mammoth ok though.

Sf, or la would make best choices i think, 10x the population as pdx, money flowing faster than diet coke at the white house, and its a place international buyers and makers could more easily be enticed to attend. It's downsides of course same as seattle though for laws. But honestly i dont think makers would mind all that much when your getting to setup in metro areas with populations larger than most states have.

Vegas would be decent option, but its got same problem pdx does with small metro population and add in pretty bad poverty level. and outside of vegas is pretty much nothing, so long drives in for anyone "local" . So your relying on long distance out of towners to make up bulk of attendance, which then begs the question, why wouldnt they just skip it and fly into atlanta for the bigger show?
 
There were a couple of Seattle shows recently... I went to both, had a table in 2015. They were fun but logistically somewhat troubled, with business not exactly being land office. Been a couple years since the last one.
I don't use ivory so it doesn't matter to me, but I don't know that it would make a huge dent in maker attendance should regulations forbid it at a major west coast show.
As far as travel expenses, I'd still drive down to Frisco (learned to call it that from family living elsewhere in the Bay area...) and since I have more friends and family in the west, could find a place to stay. Not nearly as much a stretch as Atlanta. Even airfare would be significantly cheaper.
 
Yeah the seattle shows Daniel did were pretty awesome. Level of talent at the tables was by far the most the NW had ever seen and daves pre funks were the icing on the cake. Keep hopin Daniel will do it again, but i think it was too much for him to tackle with limited time, funds and staffing. Seemed like makers were sellin pretty well at it too compared to say okca or other nw shows.

I really do think seattle area could sustain a yearly big show and do it well. More attendance and sales than any other non cali city on west coast at least. Id be happy though with anything from sf or more north. A truly good show to count on each year that could be driven to would rock
 
Shows come and go, some do good others don't, not much rhyme or reason.

The ICCE show (ABS/KMG) in KC should be very well attended, but it's not?

Blade is too big & has a lot of junk, but it is still the show to do!
Most of my best clients are there, but only a couple from the Atlanta area.

My favorite show by far is the Fisk Micro show, but it's more of a private affair.
 
guys i grew up here in Portland, i think the reason the "Blade" crew is looking at hosting a show here is ease of travel ,PDX is not a small podunct airport out in the middle of nowhere, 1/2 hour from it and you can do almost anything you could think of.
the "Knife Business" is very strong here there are Benchmade,Al Mar knives,Gerber,CRK,Coast,Kershaw,Leatherman, etc all set up and well established here for many years. yes it failed here in the past but the "Venue" they chose to use kinda sucked, they did not advertise it very well. i used to drive to San Fran for BACKA and i think the reason it became popular was that it was held at the same area for years before it was established.
of course this is just my opinion ,nothing more.
 
Aidenag said:
I don't see portland doing too well for this, great for a local show, but not for getting large amounts of people to flock to it. That antique show thats now doing knives as well ive heard sales for makers not so good. and ask any okca vender how little sales happen from the eugene show.... Im betting the only reasons blade is considering it is oregons loose knife laws and allowing ivory. Combined with benchmade being in portlands backyard.

Seattle would be a better choice with much larger economy, and population. Seattle has 1.5m more people in metro area than pdx. 3.8m to 2.3m and has many more direct connect flights out of SeaTac. Its downsides are automatic knives arent legal here, and elephant ivory is banned. Mammoth ok though.

Sf, or la would make best choices i think, 10x the population as pdx, money flowing faster than diet coke at the white house, and its a place international buyers and makers could more easily be enticed to attend. It's downsides of course same as seattle though for laws. But honestly i dont think makers would mind all that much when your getting to setup in metro areas with populations larger than most states have.

Vegas would be decent option, but its got same problem pdx does with small metro population and add in pretty bad poverty level. and outside of vegas is pretty much nothing, so long drives in for anyone "local" . So your relying on long distance out of towners to make up bulk of attendance, which then begs the question, why wouldnt they just skip it and fly into atlanta for the bigger show?
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The Las Vegas valley has well over 2.5 million for population, long drives for anyone not local really? have you heard of Southern California? Inland Empire?, San Diego? 5 hour drive from San Diego tops. San Francisco a better choice? Have you been there lately with the homeless shitting on the streets, shooting up in public? Not sure what a "Pretty Bad Poverty Level"is but I would be willing to bet Atlanta or San fran sicko is worse not to mention the ATL's gang problem. There is a reason Vegas is the place to go for conventions they know how to do it. You can have the convention, stay at the same hotel, eat there with multiple options from coffee shops, buffets to world class dining and then go see a show with out ever leaving that hotel. Rooms are plentiful and cheap, every airline flies here and a easy drive from so cal.
SHOT show will be here again next month I wonder why they keep coming back? I would say that is a pretty successful show would you agree?
 
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Last time I was there, it cost me like $700-750 not counting show supply purchases and getting there and back only cost me like $80 in gas and I stayed with a buddy for free. It ONLY costs you $1500? Do you sleep on the loading dock and eat out of the dumpster? ;)
erik markman said:
Blade is the only show I would spend $1500 to get there and back.
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Having been there MANY times and having a friend that lives 3 miles from the Galleria, I must have not been paying attention because I haven't really noticed much in the way of a gang problem that part of South Cobb County. :) The reason that a huge show like SHOT goes to Vegas is that the Las Vegas Convention Center is one of the few venues that size in the US, two others being the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando and McCormick Place in Chicago. For years, it was the only one that big and the printing industry had their show in Vegas because that was the only convention center in the US where you could wheel up full sized printing press units on the rail siding and temporarily install them in the hall. SHOT need a big room and they have held the show in Vegas and in Orlando in the recent past. They sure as hell aren't going to hold a gun show in Chicago. LOL. THAT may be a factor when looking at California.
For a show the size that we are talking about, you can go many places. The main hall at the Cobb Galleria is about 6-7% the size of those big convention centers. They put 400 tables in the old "smaller" convention space at the Orlando Marriott World Center for the Guild Show back in the early 90's.
 
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DANG!!!!! You guys get whacked HARD!!! It has been a couple of years, but I don't think that I ever paid more than like $950 to fly over the other way. But to be fair, you are coming over in the high season, not early November. The first couple of times i came over was during the crash and I think I paid as little as $650 for one of those tickets that i didn't get using airline miles. :eek: Next time, you might want to check what it costs to fly out of Brussels on Delta. IIRC, it was cheaper than Amsterdam or Paris and the fees were about half as much. Back then, Dusseldorf was another cheap destination where they were trying to build up traffic.
erik markman said:
Joe, that is airfare only.
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