Sold-Out Atlanta Shoe Market Bigger than Ever

As other industry tradeshows make format adjustments and shift dates in attempt to retain exhibitors and hold onto attendees, The Atlanta Shoe Market (TASM) continues to build on its strong growth of recent years by staying true to its principles and practices: convenient, affordable and housed under one roof . The TASM’s 2010 Fall Market edition, scheduled for Feb. 19-21 at Atlanta’s Cobb Galleria Center in the Renaissance Waverly Hotel, is sold out—again. It includes a new section of 75 additional booths in the hotel’s ballroom dubbed, “The Kids Shoe Box,” which will be the exclusive home for children’s styles. Now playing host to nearly 1,600 lines, TASM has grown out of the 150,000 square feet of space in the Galleria exhibit hall. “We accommodated several manufacturers in the halls and meeting rooms adjacent to the exhibit hall for the Spring Market, but we still needed more room,” says Laura Conwell-O’Brien, show manager and executive director of the Southeastern Shoe Travelers Association (SEST), sponsor TASM. “Setting up a special location that can handle an entire category is the most convenient and productive way to serve both exhibitors and attendees.” Being convenient and productive are the two primary reasons TASM has become what many manufacturers and retailers now consider their most important show of the season. Even as the show has multiplied in exhibitors and attendees in recent years, Conwell-O’Brien and the SEST board of directors have persisted in its single goal: to make the show the best place for the industry to do business. “As the industry’s only non-profit, association-sponsored show, we have always been more concerned about doing what’s best for our industry as opposed to what would put the most money in our pockets,” she says. “The bottom line is making it easy for retailers to work with the manufacturers and do their buying for the coming season.” Many attendees also give high marks to TASM’s social and educational opportunities. Now a regular at the semi-annual show, Ellen Campuzano’s Colour Trends seminar will once again offer key insights into the trends that will drive footwear and accessory styles for the coming seasons.