The Capital Home & Garden Show unveiled expanded garden displays and introduced area consumers to its new spokesman before wrapping up a four-day run on Sunday at the Dulles Expo Center. This year more than 750 regional and national exhibitors (30 fewer than last year) displayed indoor and outdoor consumer products and promoted home improvement services at booths in the North and South Halls of the 200,000-square-foot venue. Despite the ongoing rash of home foreclosures and tightened consumer spending, show manager Brian Osika said attendance was stronger than expected.
The twice-yearly (spring and fall) show is produced by Cleveland, Ohio-based Marketplace Events, a company that produces 32 such shows across the United States and Canada. Osika said that some exhibitors downsized their exhibit space this year, for instance, from 300 to 200 square feet. But the show continues to be popular, he said, because consumers, as well as exhibitors, appreciate the advantages a trade show offers: “Unlike a newspaper ad or a TV commercial, at a show, consumers have the benefit of hands-on touch and feel of products. They can compare prices.”
A new feature this season was the 9,000-square-foot walk-through “Idea Garden,” constructed by seven Northern Virginian landscape companies, displaying fully-bloomed gardens and trends in outdoor furniture, fire pits, fountains, rock paths, and custom stone work. Nearby, in a “Garden Theater,” trade professionals conducted potting demos and planting workshops.
In January, Marketplace signed a three-year contract with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition star Ty Pennington to be the show's spokesman. Marketplace uses quotes from Pennington and his image on signage and in print ads. There was also an exhibit called “Ty Style,” which displayed home furnishings featured in his At Home magazine.
In a recession, or in any year, Marketplace encourages exhibitors to present the best booth possible. At an annual training session, Marketplace teaches exhibitors what Osika calls tricks of the trade, like how to greet customers, the advantages of standing rather than sitting in a booth, how to gather sales leads, and booth aesthetics. “We also discuss what to avoid,” said Osika. That would be the booth with a foot-wide, propped-up vinyl banner behind a naked rental table, manned by an expressionless salesman with an order book.
The competing Washington Home & Garden Show, produced by Alexandria-based TJS Events, comes to Walter E. Washington Convention Center on March 19 through 22.
