What happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas - good place to have the SIA (Snowsports Industries of America) Buying show! Or at least it was. Next year the show will move to Denver and some feel it will never be the same. The final SIA Buying Show is in winding down and when it closes it will mark the passing of an era.
The ski industry was just gaining national momentum when the buying show was moved from New York to Las Vegas. The entire industry seemed to be as golden as the coins spilling out of the slot machines. The vendors spent more and more money trying to woo and wow buyers. Each year the booths got bigger and crazier. They added music, dancers and it was all about selling the sizzle. Buying for a ski and snowboard shop was much more exciting in a two story tiki bar. Everyone in the industry was having fun.
The sobering fact is though that over the past few years the industry has been changing - changing so fast that we barely have time to analyse and evaluate how to move with it, how to stay in business and it is tough to foresee how things will all shake out in the end.
With the show moving from Las Vegas it is a chance for everyone in the industry to wake up from the party, figure out where we are and find a cab to take us home - and hope that we haven't been locked out.
The ski industry was just gaining national momentum when the buying show was moved from New York to Las Vegas. The entire industry seemed to be as golden as the coins spilling out of the slot machines. The vendors spent more and more money trying to woo and wow buyers. Each year the booths got bigger and crazier. They added music, dancers and it was all about selling the sizzle. Buying for a ski and snowboard shop was much more exciting in a two story tiki bar. Everyone in the industry was having fun.
The sobering fact is though that over the past few years the industry has been changing - changing so fast that we barely have time to analyse and evaluate how to move with it, how to stay in business and it is tough to foresee how things will all shake out in the end.
With the show moving from Las Vegas it is a chance for everyone in the industry to wake up from the party, figure out where we are and find a cab to take us home - and hope that we haven't been locked out.
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