To Show or Not to Show

To Show or Not to Show

The Kitchen/Bath Industry Show should it take place every year or every other year?

In the meantime, as they say in the entertainment industry, the show goes on . . . maintaining the same annual format it has had for the past two decades, and one that is likely to remain unchanged based on sheer economics alone.

"The last two years of [K/BIS] set new records for exhibitors, amount of square footage and attendance," notes Larry Spangler, director of marketing and membership for the National Kitchen & Bath Association, co-sponsor of the three-day event. "Attendance is well up over 40,000 now. It continues to stay strong. So the thought of saying, 'Let's do this every other year' doesn't stack up to the actual response to the show."

"Every year there seem to be three or four major new trends, and hundreds of new products," adds Jeff Burton, immediate past president of the NKBA, and owner of the The Bath & Beyond in San Francisco. "Manufacturers who are on the cutting edge need and want to show every year."

The viewpoints of Spangler, West and Burton sum up the opinion of show proponents, as well as those dealers and designers surveyed by Kitchen & Bath Design News (see related story, Page 54).

Then, there's the equally assertive other side of the coin, emanating from a seemingly growing group of vocal critics.

"It's absolutely, totally ridiculous to have a K/BIS every year!" complains Leo Bain, owner of Nor'East Associates, a rep firm in West Newbury, MA. "What's the purpose of the show? To sell space and make money for the [NKBA]? This show started out [as] a kitchen and bath show for cabinetry; now it's primarily hardware. [The costs have] gotten so high you've eliminated all of your smaller custom cabinet manufacturers."

Bain's sentiments are echoed in many quarters of the kitchen and bath industry, with K/BIS critics charging that escalating exhibit costs have forced, in particular, cabinet manufacturers to abandon the show if not completely, then at least on a yearly basis. Many smaller, regional cabinet manufacturers particularly custom manufacturers also say they get more bang for their buck by putting their marketing dollars into other types of dealer-support programs instead of exhibiting at a venue that's often outside their core market, and one that attracts a highly regionalized attendee base, despite its billing as a "national show."

"Right now, K/BIS costs too much, and it doesn't produce the kind of results that would justify an annual event," observes Dick Titus, executive v.p. for the Reston, VA-based Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association (KCMA). "The products don't change dramatically enough every year to require a show," 
Titus says.

"I just came from the International Wood-working Fair (IWF), which features the latest in woodworking machinery, where things are changing very quickly with computer technology. And they have an every-other-year show."

Exhibit costs
Those most strongly in favor of a biennial show are cabinet manufacturers including the KCMA who cite the costs of displaying cabinetry as the motivating factor behind their every-year resistance.

For the 2001 show in Orlando, for example, space costs alone run $30.50 per square foot for non-NKBA members wishing to exhibit at the Orange County Convention Center. In other words, costs for a 20'x20' booth of 400 sq. ft. would cost $12,200. And that's space costs alone, for a relatively small booth; it does not include shipment fees, drayage, booth setup costs, decoration, utilities and show-related marketing expenses not to mention travel, hotel expenses, meals, entertainment and a host of other costs, including months of preparation, booth construction and time away from the office.

The intricacies of booth design required for cabinet displays are much more extensive than for other products, points out Neil Lynch, senior v.p./marketing for MasterBrand Cabinets Inc., in Jasper, IN.