Health+Fitness Business Expo, a division of Nielsen Business Media parent company of the Action Sports Retailer (ASR), Fly Fishing Retailer, Interbike and Outdoor Retailer (OR) trade shows, wrapped up one of its most dynamic shows held recently at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. Highlights of the show were an increase in the number of attending buyers, a positive business climate and a strong showing of fitness industry community spirit at the after hours gatherings and pre-show charity golf tournament.
Keynote speaker for the event, Paul Pilzer, a world-renowned economist and professor, kicked off this year's show by discussing the future of the ever-growing $5 billion wellness industry, which includes such categories as fitness equipment, health food, personal trainers, and medical/health products and services to name a few.
"Customers want to be well and retailers need to tap into this desire and sell them the products that will make them well," Pilzer said.
Pilzer also predicted that if the wellness industry continues to grow as fast as it has the past five years, wellness sales will push well into trillions of dollars in the next decade.
Show attendees from major retailers and manufactures were equally optimistic about the home fitness equipment industry's potential and their business during the show.
"The show is always worthwhile" said Jeanne Sheriff owner of Denver-based retailer Health Styles Exercise. "There were lots of new and innovative products with interesting features. I don't know how the future couldn't be good for the exercise equipment business."
"Health+Fitness Business is always a great show for us," said Kevin Lamar, president of Lamar Health, Fitness & Sports. "But this year was better than expected. We were very pleased with the buzz created by the launch of our StrideWell recumbent elliptical. Our sales staff was able to meet with many professional retailers, and they wrote an exceptional amount of orders."
HFB media partner SNEWS organized the Second Annual SNEWS Golf Scramble on the day before the opening of HFB. All industry attendees were invited to particpate in teams of four to benefit Augie's Quest in their fight against ALS. Over 70 exhibitors and buyers played along with 3-time Tour de France champion, Greg LeMond, and former NFL quarterback, Steve Beuerlein, and several thousand dollars were raised for the charity.
Recent mergers and bankruptcies within the industry resulted in a decrease in retail businesses in the industry. However, HFB had a slight increase in the number of attendees, buyers and exhibitors from last year and hosted more than 175 major brands.
Final show numbers for 2007:
Net sold booth space: 55,200 sq. ft.
Gross exhibit hall space: 100,000+ sq. ft.
Total attendees: 2,121
Total buyers: 881
Unique retail businesses represented: 382
Total number of paid exhibitors on the Expo floor: 134
Total number of brands represented: 175+
If you are interested in receiving information on some of the newest home fitness products for the coming year, launched at this year's show, please request an updated version of the Health+Fitness Business 2007 New Products Fact Sheet from Maura Lansford,
mlansford@soarcomm.com.
For more information about the Health+Fitness Business Expo & Conference, please visit
www.healthandfitnessbiz.com.
About Health+Fitness Business
Health+Fitness Business, a division of Nielsen Business Media, is a full service tradeshow company whose goal is to create, market and produce high quality tradeshows and educational conferences. Health+Fitness Business is the leading retail fitness industry business-to-business trade event, bringing together top manufacturers, retailers, buyers, industry advocates and media to conduct the business of the fitness. Now in its 10th successful year, Health+Fitness Business gathers more than 175 fitness related brands and approximately 3,000 industry professionals and decision makers on an annual basis. For more information, please visit
www.healthandfitnessbiz.com.
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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Chip Smith, SOAR Communications, 801.523.3730 (wk) / 801.597.7515(cell),
csmith@soarcomm.com or
David Politis, SOAR Communications, 801.523.3730(wk) / 801.556.8184(cell),
poppa.p@soarcomm.com
