GlobalShop: In Like a Lion?

It’s March. For me, that has always meant the first day of spring (even if that first day of spring generally looks an awful lot like that last day of winter); the college basketball tournament; and St. Patrick’s Day, when I try to find something, anything, green to wear (not my best color).

For the past 17 years, March has also meant GlobalShop. I’ve been around this show since the beginning, when it was the Store Fixture Show at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. I saw it move to bigger and grander space in McCormick Place. I saw the floor fill with people and conversation and manufacturers build bigger, costlier, showier booths.

There were parties to go to, dinners all around town, then apres-dinner events. Sleep was not a big item on the GlobalShop agenda.

I was part of the discussion to change the name of the show to GlobalShop. (My part of that discussion was telling anyone who would listen that it sounded too grandiose to me, too overreaching, too Napoleon-invading-Russia. But nobody listened – it was the ’90s. Napoleon and Josephine were still the fun couple of Versailles, shopping regularly at Louis Vuitton.)

I saw “the show” (that’s how it was always referred to in Atlanta, no full name, like Valentino or Beyonce) move away from Chicago, successfully to Las Vegas, somewhat less successfully to Orlando. And I’ve seen the show reflect the industry: robust and ambitious in the beginning; a little desperate-feeling more recently.

So it’s March again, and this industry is wondering: Which GlobalShop will show up this year? The robo calls from Doug Hope promise that it will be, as it always was, a can’t-miss event. And those still standing will probably not miss it. It’s still an important place for retailers, designers and suppliers to get together and do some business. But how much business is being done?

Sadly, I think, still not as much as we’d like. It’s a trickle-down world, and the trickle is slow. First, the economy needs to turn around. Then consumers need to be convinced the economy’s turning around. (Jobs would be a wonderful step in that direction.) Then consumers have to begin shopping again. Then retailers have to begin investing in marketing and merchandise and, finally, in building new stores – then talking to design firms and getting bids from suppliers – then awarding those bids. Then the suppliers have to begin rehiring labor and opening up plant shifts again. Then they have to see some black ink in the ledger books.

Then, GlobalShop will become once again that robust, vibrant meeting place of retailers with money to spend and manufacturers with resources to show off.

Start trickling. We’re ready!