FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Pierre Joubert]

[vic rzonca]

[vic rzonca]

[Pierre Joubert]

[Bob Harman]

I hate to rain on your parade, but, at least for the last decade, attendance at the Tucson Show has been slowly and steadily declining. Reliable estimates from last year put show attendance at about 70% of what it was about 12 years ago in 2005.
We can discuss if this is indeed the case, and if so the causes for the decline in another thread. But for the importance to this thread, except for peak hours during the first day or two, there should be little trouble finding parking spots in all the venue parking lots including the HTCC lot.
I remember having no trouble at all finding parking places last year. The lots were only half full most of the times after prime time on the first couple of days.

My observations and opinion. BOB

[alfredo]

Attendance figures for any given day are in part an illusion, attenuated by the ever increasing length of the show. Used to be that dealers would typically be there for ten days, now it's often 20 days. Spread people out over more days and it looks like there are fewer people there. As you said - that's good for the parking situation.

[Bob Harman]

I absolutely agree with you ALFREDO. As I said start another thread on the Tucson Show and we can discuss the attendance and other aspects of the show. Or, maybe I should start the thread?? BOB

[Joseph DOliveira]

I have been attending the Tucson show regularly for the last twenty years, with the last ten as a dealer. Originally I would attend for one week but more recently with retirement, I have been spending two months in the Tucson area during January and February.

Last year I had most of my inventory purchases completed before the official start of the show, as many of the foreign dealers were selling as they set up. I have noticed over the years that vendors are much more tolerant of you checking their stock as they set up and I have been taking advantage of this to avoid the crowds.

Over the last few years it does appear to me that the crowds in Tucson have been diminishing but this has also been a common thread at most of the shows I attend throughout the year here in Canada. I spoke with many of the foreign vendors that I deal with in Tucson and they appeared to be pleased with their sales but some had noted a reduction in traffic. Perhaps with the current resurgence of the US economy, things will be better this year.

As for parking, I've never had a parking issue at any of the venues but it will be interesting to see how the parking will be handled at the HTCC. In any event, a minor inconvenience will not detract from the enjoyment of meeting friends and seeing the vast variety of minerals on display throughout the city.

[vic rzonca]

You are absolutely right Bob, attendance seems down, but I'm not sure if that it is not a function of the same number of participants spread over more time and spread over more dealers. The jump start to the jump start to the pre-game. My impression is that there is a more or less fixed number of patrons, IE. people who buy minerals. If there was no Tucson show, it would increase the density at any particular venue that is available, but not increase the "fan" base. These are just my impressions. Another one is, as it may seem that attendance is down, the dealer paddock is full, and expanding, leading to a further negative change of the dealer/buyer ratio. Not sure if this makes any sense, but our hobby/avocation grows very slowly, by word of mouth and our enthusiasm is what spawns interest. That's one way to make the pie bigger, but I'm not sure that bigger and longer is better, I'm not a fan of endless growth, but again, these are impressions of a fevered brain. Love this site. And thanks for critique of the parking , Joe..

[John S. White]

Bob: Not sure what Tucson Show you are referring to. It seems to me that the only measurable ones with respect to attendance are the club show at the convention center and the various trade shows with tightly controlled attendance. That excludes all of the other shows, including HTCC, River Park, etc. Many attendees go home before the club show and others arrive after the trade shows, so how can one possibly take a head count? All I can say is that parking at HTCC has not gotten any easier even with the opening of the large lot across from the hotel lobby, now lost.

[Peter Megaw]

Speaking of the Main Show....TGMS...our attendance has stayed pretty constant since the 1990s. Our peak year was 1991, a high water mark 25% above where we are now.

Last year we were off 10% from our recent average, which is no surprise given that most shows were off 25% or more due to the crappy economy. There were many well known collectors who did not come who have told me that that was why...and dealers who confirmed sales off from 2016...itself no barn burner

Main point is we see fluctuations year to year in large part IMHO to the vagaries of the economy and people's sense of disposable income. Last year we also had uncertainty of the Trump Factor with many international buyers and sellers choosing to stay home. The strong US dollar and the fact that European and Asian economies were horrible last year too didn't help.

This year things should be better...oil is up, dollar down a bit, Europe is up and most of the border issues have stabilized.

As to jump starts. That is fully in the Show promoters hands should they chose to take it on...most do not. People sell early because they want to take the money while it is there, and unless the promoter steps in contractually they will continue to do so. Note, before retiring from Tucson, that our Fearless Leader led an (unfortunately) Quixotic movement to hold to the official show dates. I am sorry it has not taken.

The overall health of the hobby is a separate topic, but I think it's pretty good, but with the internet we just don't see it the way we used to.