SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA—Nielsen Sports Group has pulled the plug on its semiannual Action Sports Retailer (ASR) trade show after a 29-year run.
Nielsen group show director Andy Tompkins cited growing competition among key brands and retail consolidation as underlying reasons for the San Diego show’s demise.
“This dynamic, combined with tight credit markets, has been hard on the new, smaller or up-and-coming brands as well as many independent surf, skate and boutique retailers,” he said in a letter that went out to the action sports industry in early November announcing the show’s indefinite suspension.
“We expect this consolidated and competitive situation to continue to characterize the action sports industry in California. …Given these fundamental changes, it has proven to be increasingly difficult for the ASR shows in San Diego to serve the new needs of the action sports marketplace,” he wrote.
Nielsen will expand the Outdoor Retailer show in an effort to provide a medium for action sports brands and retailers to meet, Tompkins added.
The Outdoor Retailer trade show is held twice a year in Salt Lake City and attracts buyers from all 50 states and 40 countries as well as leading outdoor brands including Patagonia, The North Face and Timberland among more than 850 other exhibitors.
“While we realize this won’t work for everyone, we invite those from the action sports lifestyle industry who feel they would benefit to reach a broader base of successful active and outdoor lifestyle retailers and brands to participate in Outdoor Retailer in 2011,” Tompkins said.
ASR, which served the surf, skate, swim, moto and fashion industries, drew more than 750 brands, 5,000 buyers and 18,000 attendees twice a year in January and August/September.
Its owner, Nielsen Expositions, also runs Interbike, Outdoor Retailer and the Health+Fitness Business Expo. Tompkins, ASR’s show director, will continue to head up Interbike and the HFB shows, scheduled to be held in tandem next September in Las Vegas.
—Lynette Carpiet
