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INTERSPORT
The Q4 show had a different layout to the Q3 show, which we attended in January. The floorplan was more open, but not as a result of feedback from members after the Q3 show, as General Manager Barry Mellis explained: "Every time we have a show, we're going to change the layout," he told SGB. "We want to surprise the members - they love it when it stays the same, but then they complain that it's not been changed! We want to keep things fresh for the members."
Specialist Sports Shoes, which distributes adidas hockey gear, are new members of Intersport, and their message to the customer was simple, as Richard Mantell told us: "We're able to provide a more flexible service for smaller retailers. We don't have minimum re-order or order levels, for example."
Another fresh face was Matt Roberts, a brand which has some beautifully designed gear which is both attractive and practical, with the kind of functional flourishes that will distinguish them from most other brands. We'll be taking a closer look at them in a future issue of SGB
1000 Mile had an incredible range of stock on the stand, and rep Warren Smith told SGB that their message for retailers is they're "a one-stop shop for sports retailers. We cover a multitude of sports, we have some unique brands, which are at the highest level."
Field to Podium were back, and with an expanded range of apparel that is winning orders and helping fund British sport. We'll be catching up with them again in the magazine, too.
Canterbury remain positive despite some delivery problems in the past, but staff were giving members a story of confidence thanks to a new warehouse ops manager who has apparently put in systems that mean they're hitting delivery targets. Let's hope so, because the sky is the limit for Canterbury if they can sort those issues out. Great product on show in Shirley, and a lot of happy customers too.
Racket brands were out in numbers, with new technologies from Prince, lovely new rackets from Slazenger, Wilson are pushing into badminton in a big way and Yonex look as strong as ever, HEAD is looking good product-wise too... There's actually not enough space to go into everything we saw here. It was a very, very good show, as Steve Heatley from Prince concludes for us: "It's been an excellent show. We had 19 members on in the first day and almost all of them placed orders. I don't think the negativity in the market is showing here; forward orders might be down, but the business is still coming through. We had one of our best months in terms of day-to-day business in January; retailers are sitting on less stock now, but the orders are still there."
