Although final attendance figures have yet to be released by CBA, the consensus among exhibitors as the exhibition floor at Advance 2007 closed, yesterday, was that the number of bookstores at the show was noticeably down compared to last year.

Kent Barnard, general manager of Magi Marketing, representing three gift suppliers, said it was the slowest show he had attended in 10 years in the industry. “I love being here, but I really believe that the weather scares a lot of people away,” he said.

Jere Miller, sales manager for New Day Christian Distributors, also thought the Indianapolis location was a significant factor in the turnout. “Very low floor traffic as far as retailers coming around,” he observed, “much better traffic in Nashville last year.”

At STL, Vice president of Christian Market Sales Terry Draughon said: “Obviously we wish we could have had a better attendance from the bookstore community. Those that have attended have been very attentive in our presentations and interested in what we have to offer.”

For Steve Potratz, president of The Parable Group, Advance had been “slow,” but there had been some good leads. The event was “still incredibly important,” he said. “It's a tough time in the industry right now, and the strength of this industry is relationships, and we need to work together. You can't have the kind of conversations that need to happen over the phone or in an e-mail. We need to be face to face with people.”

Lori Addicott, director of Christian market sales for Waterbrook Multnomah, echoed Potratz's sentiments. “It has been light traffic, but the appointments we have had have been good, quality time to visit with people,” she said. “For me the show is a time to renew and re-energize, to reconnect with people who are out there in the stores. I value this time.”

Bob Nealeigh, CBA sales director for FaithWords, was “disappointed,” and thought that poor Christmas sales may have caused some stores to decide they could not afford to attend.

Nealeigh said that his company would be re-evaluating its presence at Advance. “I think that CBA really needs to take an overall look at what is happening to their shows. I don't see that this show is a critical show. …”

Zondervan President and CEO Doug Lockhart said: “I won't tell you that we are excited about the retail traffic. It has been disappointing. But our position is at this point that we are committed to supporting CBA.”

This year the company had moved many of its meetings into space in the trade-show booth, from the traditional hospitality suite away from the exhibition hall, as a way to support CBA by being “more of a presence on the floor. We were pretty encouraged by that and think we will continue to move in that direction,” he said.

“I don't know what the answer is to the attendance. I wish I did, but it is something that needs to be addressed,” Lockhart added.

Howard Miller, assistant manager of The Scroll Christian Bookstore in Tyler, Texas, agreed that it had been “a slow show.”

“We come to these things usually just to renew contacts and stuff,” Miller said. “We get all our orders out of the way before.”

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