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2008 Cash And Carry Gift Shows

San Francisco: Western Exhibitors, Inc. long time producers of the San Francisco, Portland and Seattle Gift Shows, announced that it will hold three "immediate delivery" gift and jewelry shows this fall. These events managed on behalf of dmg World Media and GLM will be the only "gift show" events operated by Western Exhibitors this year. Western also produces nine public craft and entertainment events called the Harvest Festivals and two trade shows catering to new age retailers called the International New Age Trade Shows.

Because of the reduced show schedule, Western's Mike Dean and Wendy Tonkin believe their company's added focus on the cash and carry shows will make them larger, more diverse and better attended than in recent years. "We are really going all out to bring in some new interesting product, mainly through recruitment at similar shows throughout the country and we expect to add a large apparel contingent this year", said Wendy Tonkin, president of Western Exhibitors. "With the changes in buying habits and availability of merchandise, immediate delivery shows like these are becoming more and more popular with 'I want it all now' retailers", added Mike Dean. Kelly McLoughlin, who for several years was the main division manager of the San Francisco and Seattle Gift Shows, has been named as show manager for all three cash and carry gift shows.

Although cash and carry shows allow attendees to take their purchases with them, many of the attending retailers also place orders as their last chance to get merchandise before the busy holiday selling season. All of these shows are by invitation only to retailers and their guests.

The San Francisco Cash and Carry Show will be held at the Concourse Exhibition Center October 10-12, 2008. The show expects to feature approximately 200 exhibitors of general gifts, apparel and fine and fashion jewelry and draw 4,000 retailers and their guests from the surrounding region. Attending buyers will also be in town for the annual San Francisco Fleet Week celebration when the city goes wild over the Columbus Day holiday.

The Portland Cash and Carry Show will be held at the Oregon Convention Center October 3-5, 2008, two weeks earlier than last year. The Portland show has been extremely popular and boasted 175 exhibitors and 3, 600 attendees in 2007.

The Seattle Cash and Carry Show will be held at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall November 7-9, 2008. The show will sell out to approximately 175 exhibitors in 24,000 square feet of exhibit space. Attendance is expected to exceed last year's 3,000.



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