Las Vegas Souvenir & Resort Gift Show
LAS VEGAS SOUVENIR & RESORT GIFT SHOW
We had no idea how vast this show was going to be; we were totally shocked at the vast number of booths handling a wide variety of items ranging from T-shirts, children’s jewelry, lollipops for children (and adults) as well as towels and pen and pencils.
There was a broad array of T-shirts ranging from those with cute saying for children, humorous quotations, advertising, and companies willing to print your choice on the front and back. There is still an enormous market for these t-shirts as probably 20% of the floor space seemed to be dedicated to them.
One of the first t-shirt displayed we encountered was a local Las Vegas business called “Meri’s Village. It had a broad selection of shirts for very young children as well as a large selection of walking sticks. As we have a 26 month old, this site held our attention. Another t-shirt site (also caps, and other clothing items) was dedicated to mountain life. Hiking, biking, fishing (Sorry I missed your call I was on the other line) and related items filled the booth. As this show was intended for buyers to pick out their new lines we did not enter the buying arena although severely tempted.
Whoever thought that there is a whole new world for lollypops was correct. Linda’s Lollies offered a variety of them in flavors never imagined by us old folks. All were guaranteed to be less than 100 calories, fat free and supposed to last one hour. Diet lollies were not around in our day! This colorful array was matched by the Jelly Belly display. Unfortunately for our waist line both offered samples (and I thought that I could only be bought by chocolate!).
The vast display, and every bit as colorful as the candy ones, was the pencil and pen display is Souvenir Source! The day of the yellow #2 pencil appears to have died. This huge display in more colors and saying was almost unbelievable. Green has entered the arena here also. One line of pencils was made out of recycled newspapers! A finishing touch is the ability to add an odor of your choice to the pencils! Chocolate scented would be my first, second and third choice.
Those of us who have visited zoos and aquariums are familiar with the display of plush animals in all sizes. The vendor Petting Zoo had what seemed like an unlimited display of them. It was tempting to bring one home!
We both felt like young children again when we saw the SLINKY display. There is no longer the simple Slinky (around since about 1946) but a big array of toys aimed at the young market. All are colorful, and many are Green!
Green is the new buzzword and Solarific is a company that has launched a line of products (flashlights) hats, walking sticks that can all shed light without a battery. In the same area was a distributor of cups, bottles, paper cups of all sizes and shapes — all sold by Modern China. Again, a green line dominated the product market.
Ouray Sportswear has a very nice line of comfort wear – sweat pants, shirts, and a huge assortment of caps!
We did a lot of walking and wish we had more time to cover all the booths. In closing there were two or three that demanded our attention: The Calico Cottage Fudge Program sets up buyers to sell fudge to the public. Did I mention they handed out samples? There went our sugar fix for the day.
There may have been others but our feet had given out so Storrs was the only one who had been around for more than 45 years. Sorry if others have been ignored! Their selection of jewelry is nice and great to see.
In closing the line “Life Is Crap” may not be the most popular but it brought smiles to all who walked past.
Richard Berk (Associate Producer – “On Air” Version)
John Lustig,Senior Reporter
Anne Leona, Reporter