Views and observations from AC - share your experience at the National!

[clamendo]

Originally Posted by bigred1

I helped out a friend for the most part. My take is the city seemed cleaner than I remembered from my last visit before the pandemic, however some restaurants and businesses did not make it, Buca Di Beppo, was a disappointment. Also seemed almost vacant in some areas while we looked for a restaurant. Stayed at Harrahs because I could not get into Caesars, drove to caesars and parked there or paid for Convention center garage if available, not a bad walk, never felt uncomfortable. Was surprised by the noise from the corporate booths, and the music volume. Picked up a Gibson rookie, 52 High, 62 Musial and 53 Spahn, overall a great trip for me.

This was in yesterday’s news. Sad to see this in the US. I had a large submission that why I was concerned walking 1.4M to the convention center from the Hard Rock besides safety, it was heavy. The outdoor parking is literally right next to the venue in Cleveland and Chicago has lots of nice hotels. The Toronto show (comparable size) has plenty of space. Why not have less dealers and a smaller venue 2x a year. Like they do in Toronto, That would open it up to more locations …

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loca...-pier/3804505/


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[tedzan]

I had a great show (selling and trading cards) at the National. I hope you guys did, too. Here is a question for you dealers.

I am curious - how friendly were you customers ? I was setup at a booth near the entrance, so I had a huge number of people stop and look at my stuff.
I can say that I was pleasantly surprised that every sale I made was done without a hint of "haggling". Of course, some of the customers pulled out their
I-Phones and did their comps on my prices. However, not a single customer disputed my asking price. They simply pulled out stacks of 100-dollar bills for
the card(s) they wanted....and thanked me with a happy

My prices for the HOFers and the tougher T206 backs were not cheap. I found this experience very unusual. In shows in the past, there always have been
some contentious wheeling-n dealing with some guys.

I'm beginning to think that the hobby is starting to get accustomed to these higher prices. Whatever.....so, tell us of your wheeling-n-dealing experiences
at Atlantic City ?


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[notfast]

Originally Posted by tedzan

I had a great show (selling and trading cards) at the National. I hope you guys did, too. Here is a question for you dealers.

I am curious - how friendly were you customers ? I was setup at a booth near the entrance, so I had a huge number of people stop and look at my stuff.
I can say that I was pleasantly surprised that every sale I made was done without a hint of "haggling". Of course, some of the customers pulled out their
I-Phones and did their comps on my prices. However, not a single customer disputed my asking price. They simply pulled out stacks of 100-dollar bills for
the card(s) they wanted....and thanked me with a happy

My prices for the HOFers and the tougher T206 backs were not cheap. I found this experience very unusual. In shows in the past, there always have been
some contentious wheeling-n dealing with some guys.

I'm beginning to think that the hobby is starting to get accustomed to these higher prices. Whatever.....so, tell us of your wheeling-n-dealing experiences
at Atlantic City ?


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

We were selling modern stuff but had mainly good interactions. Most of our stuff was priced around the most recent sale price so we knew we had a little room to give. There was a few things we over priced but the majority of people were nice in saying something about it.

Like any show, there are some dumb people who do dumb things but it was minimal.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by clamendo

This was in yesterday’s news. Sad to see this in the US. I had a large submission that why I was concerned walking 1.4M to the convention center from the Hard Rock besides safety, it was heavy. The outdoor parking is literally right next to the venue in Cleveland and Chicago has lots of nice hotels. The Toronto show (comparable size) has plenty of space. Why not have less dealers and a smaller venue 2x a year. Like they do in Toronto, That would open it up to more locations …

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loca...-pier/3804505/


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The most disturbing element of that story is that Pfish is having a concert

[Ray Van]

Originally Posted by clamendo

The outdoor parking is literally right next to the venue in Cleveland and Chicago has lots of nice hotels. The Toronto show (comparable size) has plenty of space. Why not have less dealers and a smaller venue 2x a year. Like they do in Toronto, That would open it up to more locations …

Because the powers that be simply don't want to take the show to more locations. Maybe the new ownership will change that, but I'm not holding my breath. The National has always been a show for the dealers not the customers. All excuses about not finding suitable venues in other locations - not large enough, tough to deal with unions, not enough hotel space, etc. - are just excuses. There are plenty of suitable venues all around the US, they just don't want to go there.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by Ray Van

Because the powers that be simply don't want to take the show to more locations. Maybe the new ownership will change that, but I'm not holding my breath. The National has always been a show for the dealers not the customers. All excuses about not finding suitable venues in other locations - not large enough, tough to deal with unions, not enough hotel space, etc. - are just excuses. There are plenty of suitable venues all around the US, they just don't want to go there.

Yup, because these other venues actually want to get paid for the use of their space. Crazy notion, huh?

[cannonballsun]

I have a question, I guess this is primarily for the dealers.
I lived in Chicago for a short period of time in the 90's. In 1993, I was able to go to the National at McCormick place. Due to my job and other considerations, I was only able to go for one day, and only for 3 hours.
The show was unbelievably massive. I didn't come close to be able to look at every table.
At the show in AC, several goers mentioned they were able to cruise the whole show (at least the dealers tables) in 5 to 6 hours. From what I saw in 1993, that looked impossible at that show.
So here's my question. Were there more tables back in the 90's during the crazy boom of the junk wax era, or is it about the same now ? Or are there more tables now ? Thanks for any info you can provide.

[Exhibitman]

As I recall, earlier shows had more tables because they had little in the way of corporate areas and no breaking pavilions. There were even some tables available to local dealers who were not regular participants in the show. That has changed as the corporate ($$$) booths have grown. From what I've read, there will be the largest-ever corporate spread at the show next year, with dealers increasingly squeezed into the nooks and crannies and side galleries of the hall.

[cannonballsun]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

As I recall, earlier shows had more tables because they had little in the way of corporate areas and no breaking pavilions. There were even some tables available to local dealers who were not regular participants in the show. That has changed as the corporate ($$$) booths have grown. From what I've read, there will be the largest-ever corporate spread at the show next year, with dealers increasingly squeezed into the nooks and crannies and side galleries of the hall.

Thanks, Adam.

[Exhibitman]

I wish they'd put the entire corporate area, the autograph area, and the breaking pavilion on one end of the hall. Just cluster all the crud together so I don't have to keep walking around it to get to the tables that matter.