Gift shows overwhelm me. There are so many things to see and booths to explore. Everywhere I turn, something catches my eye. I see stuffed animals that would be perfect for Fragile Earth Stuffed Animals, knick-knacks I'd love to sell but have nothing to do with our inventory, and things I personally want to own. The sheer number of people wandering through the Javits Center during the New York International Gift Fair all trying to get in as much as possible in the shortest amount of time is enough to send me into a corner.
I know going in that I will only be able to put up with being pushed and bumped for so long before I start getting claustrophobic so I need to have a plan that allows me hit my spots of interest. This year, the New York International Gift Fair has an on-line website that allows me to search the exhibitors and make a walking plan so I can get from points A to Z with the minimum fuss. However, names don't always tell you exactly what the exhibitor carries. The search function gives the stores' websites, but clicking through takes time so, a few weeks before the show, I start looking for new shops to visit. I study the floor plan, looking at what is near the stores I know I will be visiting and skim through store titles, checking to see if anything pops out at me. There are certain booths I know I will visit - like Jellycat, Merrymakers, Unipak and Yottoy - because they are mainstays in our inventory. But there will be new products out there and I need to know where they are.
Most gift shows try to organize the exhibitors so that like items are together. For us, we find the majority of our booths in the Baby and Child sections. However, we stumbled upon Jellycat one year in the middle of General Gifts, and we realized that there are hidden gems everywhere. Don't become convinced that one section will encompass everything you want. Explore!
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