Surfaces Organizers Pleased With Attendance

Dallas, TX, February 19, 2008—Although attendance was down at this year’s Surfaces show in Las Vegas, organizers say attendance was higher than expected and overall they are pleased.

At total of 34,540 retailers, distributors, manufacturers, installers, architects, designers and builders were on hand at this year’s show to get first looks at the innovative products being introduced.

"Surfaces 2008 was nothing short of phenomenal," said Chris Davis, president and CEO, World Floor Covering Association, the official show sponsor. "Every exhibitor I spoke with said they were pleasantly surprised just how robust the market was, that orders were up over last year and business was brisk. While overall traffic may have been down, those that make the buying decisions were definitely out in full force and ready to buy.”

John Woolsey, vice president of marketing and merchandising for Anderson Hardwood Floors, said, “Surfaces 2008 was interesting in that our show metrics were mixed. Counts on promotional give-a-ways and booth hospitality items were down from 2007 but sales in our booth outlet store set new records. That tells me that some of the “tire kickers” stayed home but the “buyers” were there in record numbers.”

Two years ago, Surfaces set an attendance record of 40,588. Last year attendance was down about five percent from that figure. This year attendance fell another 10 percent.

This year there were 982 exhibiting companies exhibiting in 490,000 net square feet of space. That compares to last year’s figures of 1,065 exhibiting companies in over 517,000 square feet.