Recession? Not at Photo Plus East!
By
Dave Etchells
(Monday, October 27, 2008 - 17:34 EDT)
Dave's just back from the Photo Plus show in New York City; there were few signs of an economic slowdown at the show...
I'm just back in the office, after spending two days at the Photo Plus show in New York City, and what I saw there really makes me wonder about all the doom & gloom economic reports in the mainstream media. There's no doubt that the global financial system is in a mess and that stocks have taken a beating lately, but the atmosphere at Photo Plus presented a pretty sharp contrast to those realities.
Originally a pros-only show, Photo Plus has gradually expanded its scope to include a broad swath of advanced amateurs as well. This year, while some of the larger exhibitors had noticeably downsized, the ones who remained saw brisk traffic and dense crowds. At the other end of the spectrum, small software and book vendors were doing a land-office business. It wasn't all just small items either: As I was resting my feet for a few minutes, sipping an overpriced show-floor smoothie in a food area, a VAR salesman and his customer sitting next to me were negotiating a deal for a large-format printer, to be picked up by the customer at the close of the show.
In the ten or so years I've been attending this show, I've never seen nearly as much commercial activity on the show floor.
Time will reveal the true impact of the financial mess on the broader economy, but it was certainly encouraging to see the vigorous business being conducted on the Photo Plus show floor: It seems photographers are doing quite well, thank you...
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