Oaks Show question and pick-ups...

[JamesGallo]

This show was pretty slow. There really seemed to be even less customers then at Hunts shows. Sunday was just plan bad. The show was supposed to close at 4pm and pretty much every dealer was gone by then.
I was open on time and stayed till the end on Friday and Saturday, but it seemed the sales just weren't there for me.

Many dealers I spoke to had good shows because they had regular customers come in, that is great but it does not show a growth of the hobby or a draw that other shows didn't have.

I did talk to a far number of Net 54 folks and I was set up behind Ted :-)

Chatted with Leon, Val and a few other folks from the board I had not met before.

There were some fresh dealers which is good for all, but I didn't have a ton of luck buying much for myself. I was happy to make a very late purchase (pretty much after just about everyone was gone) of a Schalk card that was a large upgrade. Beyond that I bought some comics, a Gandil blanket and some signed checks. I had a few things graded and sent off some other cards as well.

From a dealers standpoint when your sitting around for hours at a time, there isn't much to do, so I think when a show is this dead I would expect dealers to be on the phone or doing other things. That being said if I was on my phone and saw someone at my table I would ask them if they needed anything so I was certainly open to chatting and several times I put down my phone an chatted :-D

I think there is a balance of bored and unhappy and disinterested. I am never disinterested in talking to a customer, but when I am sitting for hours at a time I have to do something.

All in all I think the show was ok. The weather wasn't good, the weekend wasn't great, and the location can be a pain to find if you don't know how to get there. I talked to one person from Boston who walked everywhere and he felt it wasn't user friendly in that respects (which I agree).

I think this show will keep the dealers for 1-3 more shows, but if the attendance doesn't improve a lot it will get small fast.

James G