Did you hear?… French winter trade shows solve their trade show disputes

Well, lookeee, even the French winter trade shows can solve their trade show disputes: Formerly competing winter trade fairs have announced they will join forces. The two major winter trade events in France, SIG, located in Grenoble, and Glissexpo, with a winter edition in Paris, have decided to merge their events into a single one-stop fair to take place in Grenoble Jan 20-22. And that’s this month. As SNEWS® reported last month, the SIG upset the traditional trade calendar by advancing its dates from early March to mid-January. At the same time, the Glissexpo action sports trade gathering — initially to take place the end of January in Paris — was having difficulty recruiting exhibitors. Winter sports industry leaders (including Eurosima, the French action sports industry association) have all expressed their support of the new winter double-header, except one notable exception of Salomon, French SNEW sources. Salomon will be absentee among leading equipment suppliers. SNEWS® View: SNEWS® sources say only 15 companies had signed on to the Glissexpo. Whoa, now, if true, that’s a good reason to quickly negotiate. The move seems risky when the dates are just a couple of weeks away, but suppliers have tried to work with it. The questions being asked in France are, will the retailers pick up the cue and visit the fair in the middle of their busy selling periods, or will this be the last stand before a total demise of the winter sports fairs in France?