More than 10,274 buyers, exhibitor personnel and guests attended SuperZoo West, held Sept. 22-23 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas.

Held for the first time in conjunction with the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers’ Western Expo, it was the best-attended SuperZoo show in 10 years, according to Caryn Cohan-Bates, director of shows for the World Wide Pet Supply Association (Arcadia, Calif.).

More than 2,500 buying firms from 49 out of the 50 states attended the show. The majority came from the 11 Western states, Cohan-Bates said.

The buyer count was not available at press time.

With 518 companies in 926 booths, it was the largest show in WWPSA’s 54-year history, Cohan-Bates said. The exhibitor count was up 20 percent from 431 companies last year, and the booth count was up 11 percent from 832 booths last year.

“Exhibitors and attendees both expressed enthusiasm about the show and Las Vegas as a location,” said Doug Poindexter, executive vice president of WWPSA.

“Overall the show was very successful,” said Cohan-Bates. “We had well-qualified buyers with mostly owners, managers or someone with decision-making authority in attendance.”

“We oversold our hotel room block by an additional 50 percent, indicating that attendees stayed overnight to spend the two full days at SuperZoo. The show floor seemed as crowded the second day as the first,” Cohan-Bates added.

Highlights of the show included Innovations Alley, a special exhibit showing how pet retailers can merchandise nursery and garden products alongside pet products; the Living Wall, a huge display of small pets; the Product Showcase; and the Pond and Backyard Showcase, sponsored by Laguna Water Gardens and Rolf C. Hagen (USA) Corp. (Mansfield, Mass.).

Experts from the pet and garden industries led seminars during WWPSA’s Business Education Day. Other retail experts led seminars on merchandising, marketing, animal supplements, pond-building and more.

The Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (Washington) offered small-animal and reptile certification seminars.

In addition, about 400 groomers took part in grooming seminars and a grooming competition organized by Barkleigh Productions Inc. of Mechanicsburg, Pa.

Steve Lambourne of Steve Lambourne Co. Inc. (Sylmar, Calif.) was honored during the annual president’s reception as outgoing president of WWPSA. Lance Reyniers of Python Products Inc. (Milwaukee) and Marty Goldberg of Straight Arrow Pet Products (Bethlehem, Pa.) were recognized as outgoing directors of the trade association.

The next edition of SuperZoo West is scheduled for Sept. 28-29, 2005. However, because it would end only seven days before H.H. Backer’s 2005 Pet Industry Christmas Show, posing freight-handling and travel challenges for vendors participating in both events, WWPSA is considering dates farther from the Backer show.

Show organizers also considering a different hall layout that would address attendees’ complaints about overly long, narrow aisles.

“We will be in Las Vegas again next year, and are looking at options for alternate dates and venues to further improve the show into the future,” Poindexter said.

For more information, contact WWPSA at 800-999-7295, or visit www.wwpsa.com. [December 2004 PET AGE]