BROOMFIELD, CO (BRAIN)—The inaugural Action Outdoor & Bike Expo in Atlantic City, New Jersey, is still two months away, but organizers have already announced plans to take the show to the West Coast next year. They are also adding three more show dates.
For 2013, organizers plan to take the show to Los Angeles on Feb. 6-7 and July 10-11. These two shows will be in addition to two shows in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Feb. 20-21 and Aug. 21-22.
“Southern California is a great market for outdoor, action sports and bike, but there really isn’t a show for all three of these markets,” said Jay Driscoll, publisher of Action Outdoor & Bike magazine and sales director for the show. “There’s the Agenda show for action sports and the show in Vegas for bikes and Salt Lake City for outdoor, but not Southern California.”
The L.A. show is set to take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Driscoll also said that the February and July dates coincide with the seasonal buy cycle of action sports and outdoor shops.
The show and the magazine of the same name are owned by National Business Media, which produces a variety of business-to-business titles and expos.
As for the first show, to be held Aug. 22-23, Driscoll said it has gotten “good interest” from bike, outdoor and surf and snow sports suppliers, with 100 exhibitors booked so far. He expected to be up to 150 by show time. The show merged with the longstanding Action Expo rep show in May. As for retailer registration, he didn’t have numbers as registration just opened two weeks ago.
Driscoll said about 25 percent of total exhibitors are manufacturers of bikes or related parts and accessories. However, the exhibitor list on the show’s website had few recognizable bike brands.
“Our show concept is if you’re a bike retailer, we want you to come to the show to see bike products but also see other products you might add that you hadn’t thought about before,” he said.
As for the trade magazine, editor Heather Fried said the company hopes to up its frequency to monthly in 2013 and to bring on more editorial staff. Action Outdoor & Bike launched this year with a January-February issue. Fried said the bimonthly magazine, which didn’t include ads initially, opened up to advertising in its July/August issue.
Driscoll said the magazine goes to 9,000 U.S. retailers, with a little over 8,000 print subscribers and 800 or so digital subscriptions. And more than 50 percent of these subscribers sell or rent bikes, but aren’t necessarily bike-only shops, he added.
“We feel even in this tough environment, we’ve made some good inroads and gotten some good traction,” Driscoll said about the magazine and trade show.
