The New Jersey Soldier Show and Sale Saturday November 6, 2021 (1 Viewer)

Warrior said:
It's this Friday night and Saturday...................
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Sorry, wrong thread, thought this was the Long Island Show thread.

Gee, so many shows running currently, I can't keep track of them.
 
Warrior said:
Sorry, wrong thread, thought this was the Long Island Show thread.

Gee, so many shows running currently, I can't keep track of them.
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I just figured you were making some kind of sly joke!

Prost!
Brad
 
jazzeum said:
Brad, I suppose I was naive for hoping that, in the absence of the Hackensack Show, it would be better than it was but there couldn’t have been more than 20 dealers. It was moderately busy when I was there but the lack of sellers was mildly frustrating.
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Your description reminds me of his old Langhorne, Bucks County show, in its last 2 occurrences.

I do imagine it might have tough to get more vendors in what was probably much shorter notice than usual for any promoter to stage a show.

Still, it's interesting...

Prost!
Brad
 
I think the show had about 190 people show up. I had my regulars and overall had a great show for the effort I put into it. They show had a month of mostly word of mouth and emails...then Fast Eddie's postcards.

I think Eddie burned his bridge at this location. That is the second one this year. There was not much time this year with the Lango family not taking any action. I may try and put something together with a few other people for next year. The last minute, shoe string budget is only mildly effective.

I just attended Historicon and they had over 1700 people.
 
HobbyBunker said:
I think the show had about 190 people show up. I had my regulars and overall had a great show for the effort I put into it. They show had a month of mostly word of mouth and emails...then Fast Eddie's postcards.

I think Eddie burned his bridge at this location. That is the second one this year. There was not much time this year with the Lango family not taking any action. I may try and put something together with a few other people for next year. The last minute, shoe string budget is only mildly effective.

I just attended Historicon and they had over 1700 people.
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The Lango's tried to run the show, the college was not interested due to the whole COVID/DELTA variant and the liability/concerns with having to clean the entire gym floor to ceiling once the show ended.

Other venues were explored, cost became a factor.

They have not shelved the concept of bringing back the show in 2022, so we'll see.

If there are two or three shows running in NJ at the end of October/early November, that serves no real purpose.

I also heard the Lango's may join forces with another popular hobby segment and roll out a "combination" type show to draw on a couple of segments of the hobby world, which IMO is the way forward, toy soldier shows need to up their game and get creative if they want to survive.

Short of that, I would commit to a show that Matt ran, he's got the chops for it having run our local NETSS show for a number of years and also a couple of other shows in the NY area as well as bringing back the West Coaster, no small task, so again, he's got the chops for it and I would back him 100%.

So, I would get behind anything he ran short of the Lango's bringing back the East Coast Show.

Hard pass on anything else posing as a legitimate toy soldier show.

The truth is COVID has been a game changer as far as how people shop and gather information on toy soldiers.

I would love to return to the shows in the Spring of 2022; what the lay of the land looks like at that point will be the deciding factor.
 
I did the show, had some good buyers, it worked out fine as Matt said for the effort I put into it. I got to see Joe Remson who I missed in Chicago this year since I missed the show, so that was a highlight and picked up some nice Metal Shed. Couple of points that I will make:

A. If you are buying current toy soldiers only , then online shopping probably makes the most sense if you don't want to see any product and just order that way.

B. Shows - I find the unique items at shows - IE Metal Shed. Joe really doesn't sell online, it is only Chicago where he goes, so finding him in NJ and visiting/buying was a highlight for me!

C. Rare items - yes online has ebay and OTS auctions. However, this last show, the find of the show which made a gent's day was actually at Fast Eddies Tables - very rare Lucotte set - sold for about $1500 I think all in. Not a set you see everyday. It made the buyer's day, guy was very happy. SO - just because a smaller show, as I said, you never know what you may find.

Couple of other issues - NJ Locations - tough to find and keep one, they are more interested (the better hotels) in having receptions, parties, and even long term Sunday Church commitments than they are "Shows". SO, that is and still has been the true deterrent on having the shows.

I do think the concept of combining Toy and Toy Soldier shows is an interesting one. I also think modern advertising would help. That said, someone has to step up and do this and honestly, it will not be me!! Having seen the headache from a bird's eye view, no thanks, that said, as a collector/seller, I am happy to buy tables to support future promoter(s).

Tom
 
There are a number of problems with toy soldier shows currently.

The collector base is aging, not a lot of new collectors are coming in to replace those who are getting older/downsizing/cutting back/getting sick/sadly passing away.

Not only are you losing collectors, you're losing dealers. Here in the Northeast, just in the past 2/4 years, Mike Rosso, Ritchie Dutkins and Tony from West Point closed their stores/retired/semi retired, as did Crown, who moved to Texarkana, Al Green and Carl Hogermeyer passed away, it's getting harder to fill a room with quality dealers.

Then throw COVID into the mix, it's not a good recipe for success.

Regarding New Jersey; the East Coast Show was the flagship show, held in a large venue that was easy to get to, now it's come down to hotels that rent by the hour scattered all over the place and the shows keep moving, not to mention Saturday is a ****ty day for a show, that's the weekend/"Honey Do" day, Sunday is the better day, but yes, hotels would rather have functions with food and more importantly, booze, not just fill a room with tables and rent it out for the day.

It's what caused Matt all sorts of problems, our original show hotel in Dedham would jerk him around and would not commit to a date from one show to the other, so he moved it, same thing happened, so he moved it again.

What to kill a show; keep moving it.

The moving is for the most part not the fault of the promoter, but there are other promoters who get into dust ups with hotels, get tossed and have to find a new venue, there are other times the venue is the problem and drives the promoter nuts.

Shrinking collector demographic, shrinking dealer base, uncooperative venues, COVID and shopping on the internet have combined to be a recipe for declining shows sadly.

As a famous NFL coach likes to say, it is what it is.
 
Actually, George, what you are really saying is that booze would save any toy soldier show. I think that concept needs to be explored more.

And as to paying the room by the hour, great idea. I might be able to take my afternoon nap in a hotel room rather than in the car during the shows.
 
Andanna said:
Actually, George, what you are really saying is that booze would save any toy soldier show. I think that concept needs to be explored more.

And as to paying the room by the hour, great idea. I might be able to take my afternoon nap in a hotel room rather than in the car during the shows.
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Booze will save anything, trust me on that.

And based on some of the hotels shows are held in, I would not want to take a nap in any of them.

The Long Island Model Figure Show held yesterday and Friday; the "host" hotel is the stylish "Freeport Motor Lodge".....................does that name sound familiar? It should; it's where Joey Buttafuoco used to have his romantic rendezvous with the Long Island Lolita.....................remember those room keys that were on a plastic key holder? That is what you get there. The rooms REEK of lysol, I have to wash every stich of clothing I bring to that show in hot water twice to get the smell out, the free continental breakfast; coffee, OJ, Hostess Donuts, tiny boxes of cereal, we're talking top shelf here.

What a dump and the "show rate" is 150.00 or so with tax.

No wonder I took a pass this year, no thanks.

Actually, that is just the tip of the iceberg as to why I took hard pass......................and based on the show reports I have gotten, a solid move on my part.
 
Warrior said:
Booze will save anything, trust me on that.

And based on some of the hotels shows are held in, I would not want to take a nap in any of them.

The Long Island Model Figure Show held yesterday and Friday; the "host" hotel is the stylish "Freeport Motor Lodge".....................does that name sound familiar? It should; it's where Joey Buttafuoco used to have his romantic rendezvous with the Long Island Lolita.....................remember those room keys that were on a plastic key holder? That is what you get there. The rooms REEK of lysol, I have to wash every stich of clothing I bring to that show in hot water twice to get the smell out, the free continental breakfast; coffee, OJ, Hostess Donuts, tiny boxes of cereal, we're talking top shelf here.

What a dump and the "show rate" is 150.00 or so with tax.

No wonder I took a pass this year, no thanks.

Actually, that is just the tip of the iceberg as to why I took hard pass......................and based on the show reports I have gotten, a solid move on my part.
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Well, you need to be a Marriott man like me, I stay at the Long Island Marriot - about 4 stars, nice place, about 50 bucks more, 15 minutes further :)

TD

IN all seriousness, the actual show hotels recently being Hasbrouck Heights Hilton and the Crowne Plaza Saddlebrook - not bad. Attendance is the key issue. I think combining with another show may well be the way to go.
 
On another note about show attendance in general. This show garnered about 200 attendees (slightly less). It in my estimation in previous days did as much as 500 (probably more before my time). THen it steadily did 300 plus and that was a good little show. When you figure table rate $70 a table, of course if you get a lot of tables, slightly better rate, not bad.

Now, Long Island - $55/table - ok, great rate and in the past show I did there, it was worth it, it is a nice relaxed show with generally nice people, great exhibits, so for me , it worked, it was not a big investment.

Next and not to pick on MFCA - $100 if I recall for tables or thereabouts. Expensive in my opinion and that last show felt like to me it had the attendance of a regional show in the vendor area (150-200). That doesn't work for me. I love the exhibits, but easier to be an attendee than a vendor. Some attendees never even went into the vendor area, they were there for the exhibits only.

Then you look at Hackensack - fair table rates - huge attendance, I think the lowest was the last one and I still want to say over 700 paid buyers. That is a great show.

Bottom line, if the regional shows are to survive, need larger crowds and in order to expand vendors, need to branch out. That would certainly make sense to me.

TD
 
The pandemic has accelerated trends that were taking place in many areas, including online buying. Shows were in a decline before the pandemic but the pandemic may have finished them. If 2022 is a post pandemic year (and I think it will be) and shows have not recovered to at least their 2019 level, then their demise may only be a matter of time.
 
tdubel said:
Well, you need to be a Marriott man like me, I stay at the Long Island Marriot - about 4 stars, nice place, about 50 bucks more, 15 minutes further :)

TD

IN all seriousness, the actual show hotels recently being Hasbrouck Heights Hilton and the Crowne Plaza Saddlebrook - not bad. Attendance is the key issue. I think combining with another show may well be the way to go.
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Best hotel I ever stayed at; the Marriott for the Annandale show; about 20 minutes away, 79.00 a night, a four star hotel, outstanding, tremendous............................
 
Warrior said:
Best hotel I ever stayed at; the Marriott for the Annandale show; about 20 minutes away, 79.00 a night, a four star hotel, outstanding, tremendous............................
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No love for the Hyatt Regency in Schaumberg? {eek3}
 
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