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 More than 200 independent retailers and 80 suppliers recently took part in the Munce Group’s Christian Product Expo (CPE) Hershey, formerly called CPE Regionals East.
Despite economic hard times, CPE Hershey—held Jan. 11-13 at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, Pa.—drew nearly an identical number of retailers as the 2008 show, Munce officials said.
“The main difference was that we had stores attend from many states across the country including Texas, Arizona and California,” Munce Group Chief Operating Officer Kirk Blank told Christian Retailing . “In years past, we generally had stores from the northeast region of the country.”
The stores from Texas, Arizona and California would have likely attended the marketing company's CPE Regionals West in Riverside, Calif., normally held in January. But Munce scrapped that show last fall—citing a glut of trade events scheduled for that time frame.
The theme for CPE Hershey was based on Psalm 34:8-9, “Taste and see that the Lord is good … .” The event featured a Bible conference led by Moody Publishers author and pastor Bill Rieser and Zondervan author and speaker Ronda Rich as well as comedian Charles Marshall and music from Brian Free & Assurance and Daniel Kirkley. Additionally, there was a screening of the new FoxFaith movie, Like Dandelion Dust (Center Street, 2006), based on the best-selling novel by Karen Kingsbury.
“Overall, we thought CPE Hershey was a success,” Blank said. “Retailers were eager to share ideas and find solutions as well as take advantage of the show specials from the vendors. Suppliers were pleasantly surprised at the amount of retailers who came to purchase products.”
Munce emphasized order writing at CPE Hershey by motivating retailers with a reimbursement program that helped offset travel, food and hotel expenses based on reaching order-writing goals.
Serving more than 600 member stores in 49 states and Canada, Munce took over the former Evangelical Christian Publishers Association trade shows in Hershey and Riverside when the publishers group decided to end its five annual trade shows in 2006 because of falling attendance.
Munce's CPE Nashville is scheduled for Sept. 13-15 in the Nashville area. CPE Hershey is planned for Jan. 17-19, 2010.
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