Fence Contractors Attend Raleigh Home Show

 

This past weekend, Keith Bloemendaal and I attended the Raleigh Home Show presented by ACS. American Consumer Shows (ACS) is the largest producer of Home Shows in the United States. ACS provides exhibitors the opportunity to showcase their products and services, and to meet face to face with qualified homeowners, reaching those who are eager to learn and ready to buy. Consumers who attend the shows discover new products and trends across all categories of home improvement.

The event was put on at the newly built Convention Center in downtown Raleigh, NC. The Convention Center was completed in September of 2008, and this was his first visit.

Keith had been speaking with Nancy Sarro of American Consumer Shows for several months about getting a booth for the show, but thought he was going to be out of town for that weekend. At the last minute his plans changed and Nancy was very nice to offer him some free tickets to attend the show so we could get a better idea of the size of it and the types of vendors that would be there (planning ahead for next years event).

 

As we drove by the Convention Center hunting a parking space (something lacking around the Convention Center) we couldn’t help but notice the statue of Sir Walter Raleigh out front. The building itself is architecturally astounding to look at.

When we found parking a couple of blocks away, and had walked back to the Convention Center you see the hustle and bustle of folks coming and going, in and out of the building. I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting much of a turnout with the housing market in such bad shape, plus we were arriving halfway through the last day of the show.

Once inside, there was a line to get in (again, I wasn’t expecting a crowd). Then after going through the ticket exchange, we entered from the second floor where you were able to look down at all the booths (some of which were very extravagant) and consumers were everywhere. I immediately regretted not purchasing a booth for this event.

We made a point to walk up and down every aisle in the show, looking at everything (I have to admit I needed the exercise!) and talking with lots of vendors.

Most of the vendors we talked with were very busy helping consumers all weekend. I even overheard a guy that was demonstrating cookwear telling someone that he could sell his last set to the customer, but he needed to hold onto them until the show was over because the last set he had was the demos (as the customer gladly handed over his credit card).

I got to meet buiders, pool builders, real estate agents and many more that I was happy to network with and exchanged many business cards.

All in all, it was very enjoyable and I was encouraged to see all the consumers out not just “window shopping”, but actually purchasing windows and other items and services. Maybe a sign that consumer confidence was a little higher that weekend.