A Note to Show Organisers

When we first acquired Alan’s business we had no idea of the work involved pre and post show. However, since our short notice attendance at York in early 2008 we now know that attending a show like York on 3 weeks notice equals ‘x’ number of midnights in the workshop. With this in mind we decided not to attend any additional shows, over and above Alan’s normal schedule, in our first year. Yes, we have slipped in Guildex at Telford but with this being a 7mm show we’ll only be taking that stock and they’ll be a minimum impact on the 4mm stock (if our preparations go to plan).

Next year we’re looking for some additional shows. One on our own patch in the North West which we think will be either Wigan or Manchester. Also we’re looking at North of the border which realistically has got to be Glasgow.

We’ve also had a lot of invitations to smaller shows which we’ve felt we had to (politely) decline. Shows make up a welcome addition to our turnover but together with mail order they play a slightly minor role to our trade custom. We need to maintain a balance in our output to both the retail and trade. We could be out at a show most weekends, some traders are, but eventually we’d reach a point where we’re doing more and more work for the same amount of trade i.e. ‘saturation’. Therefore with the exception of a few chosen general shows who have demonstrated a suitably sized modeller / finescale modelling contingent we intend to stick with specialist or society shows.