Peter J. Hayes, chief operating officer and chief merchandising officer of Variety Wholesalers, will be honored the Off-Price Industry’s Man of the Year. Sponsored by the Off-Price Apparel Association, the dinner and entertainment event will be held at the Treasure Island Casino & Hotel on August 24, during the Off-Price Specialist Show in Las Vegas.
Based in Henderson, North Carolina, Variety Wholesalers, Inc. operates three value-priced retail chains consisting of approximately 450 discount stores scattered throughout 18 states, primarily in the southeast. The stores carry a broad mix of family apparel, including shores, accessories, and sleepwear as well as an extensive assortment of home goods, domestics, electronics, toys, health and beauty aids, and food items.
Beginning his retail career at Hill’s Department Stores, Peter has served as chairman and CEO of Gold Circle/Richway, a division of Federated Department Stores; CEO of Childworld/Children’s Palace; and president and COO of Family Dollar Stores. After living in mainland China for five years, he became president of Retail Exchange, a Gordon Brothers Company and then CEO of Odd Job Stores and Mazel Wholesale, one of the largest hardlines off-price retailers.

The Off-Price Specialist Center recently announced that the Army-Navy Military Expo (ANM Expo) will co-locate at their August Off-Price Show at the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas on August 23-26, 2008.
Operating as a “show within a show,” the ANM Expo will maintain its unique collegial atmosphere wherein close knit relationships are so central to the Army-Navy industry while attracts more niche military and outdoor retail buyers.
At the same time, the co-location will promote new opportunities and greater connectivity for buyers and vendors in both the apparel and army-navy surplus industries.

“The addition of the ANM Expo to our August event reinforces our commitment to finding new markets and subsequent value opportunities for our exhibitors and buyers,” said Julie Ichiba, Executive Show Director for the Off-Price Specialist Center. “Having 100 new booths and 900 new buyers from this niche military and outdoor merchandise segment is a very nice fit for our concept.”
Brent Heavner, a member of the ANM Expo management team, stated, “Making the Army-Navy Military Expo part of Off-Price will give many buyers an opportunity to view more products without adding another trade show to their busy schedules.”

The Off-Price Specialist Center recently announced new dates for its major August event during Las Vegas Fashion Week. The Show will open on Saturday, August 23 and close on Tuesday, August 26.
The change from a five-day to a four-day Show was in direct response to exhibitors’ wishes. Executive Show Director Julie Ichiba says, “Our exhibitors have been asking for a four-day Show for a while now. With our Saturday opening, we will open two days before MAGIC (August 25 – 27) and most of the other Las Vegas Fashion Week Shows. Buyers will have time to get into town for the weekend and shop our show for the great below wholesale deals on quality apparel, footwear, and accessories that our exhibitors offer.”
The August Off-Price Specialist Show is held in Hall G at the Sands Expo & Convention Center. The Show will be open from 8 AM – 6 PM on all four days.

February 7, 2008 – Long Beach, California - Value Price Expo LLC has announced the premier staging of a new product wholesale sourcing event connects powerhouse wholesale product suppliers with retailers and other volume-purchasing professionals at a show timed perfectly for just-in-time summer sales delivery taking place at the Alexis Park Resort Hotel Las Vegas
on May 6-8.

The announcement of this new merchandise market has been met with enthusiasm from audiences of wholesalers and attending retailers, with the inaugural show already off to a brisk start. Value priced industry leading companies such as CWC Inventories, Leon Korol Company, Libra Inc., Mazel Company, Consolidated International, Wisconsin Toys, X-S Merchandise Inc., and Liss Global Inc. have already reserved their exhibit space at the Alexis Park Resort Hotel, with additional companies coming on board daily.

Availability of Quality Merchandise, Leading Brands and Trendy Items Attract a High Volume of Buyers –Including Top Retailers who are new to the Show

The Off-Price Specialist Show was pleased to wrap up its 27th Fashion Week Show with highly successful results reported by exhibitors and buyers alike. The buyers, including an influx of new buyers from new industry sectors came to the Off-Price Show to fill immediate inventory needs and find great value on quality apparel. 1,000 buyers showed up in the first hour of the show on opening day – the highest number that show registration had experienced in a long time. Many of the exhibitors were said to have had either their best first day ever or their best show ever.

“We attribute the success of the February Show to two factors,” said new Show Director Julie Ichiba, “ the immediate needs of the retailers who under-bought after a poor holiday season, and the buyers, both new and old, who truly understand the opportunities that exist in our marketplace.”

Top Ten Wholesale is running a raffle at the ASD/AMD TradeShow in Las Vegas for buyers who fill out a short survey!  An iPod Nano and 3 iTunes gift cards are up for grabs on March 4th at the Publishers Pavilion at the Sands.  Check back here for the winners on Tuesday!

Fashion, Merchandise, Gift Trade Shows Make the Connections and Deliver the Ad Goods.

Targeted industry trade shows offer schmooze and contact mojo to promote your online business. Whether you supply off-price “designer” apparel, or you trend-surf the latest crafts and novelty items to stock your virtual pre-holiday shelves, or you need to source the best-priced licensed beachwear for kids, there is nothing like insider wholesale trade shows to meet your matches.

TopTenWholesale, and its community of auction and advertiser sites, staked out real-world presence at the ASAP Global Sourcing Show in Las Vegas earlier in February, where fashion industry manufacturers and distributors link up buyers and sellers. Think men’s, women’s, kids, off-price and global sourcing of major apparel and garment lines.

Any international retailer can tell you that it’s damn near impossible for them to open up their own stores in China. The differences in our cultural traditions and economic practices are so dissimilar from Chinese tradition and economy that retailers are presented with many insuperable challenges. Without the right partner or knowledge, international retailers risk diluting their brand equity, especially when they don’t effectively adapt their business models to the local customs of conducting retail.

Because of the difficulty involved in forging business relationships in China, there are very few brands there at this time. It seems only world famous brands have a presence there, brands like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, DKNY, and Polo. But the Chinese consumer is dying to have new brands from international retailers who can show various products for modern lifestyles. There currently exists a vacuum for up-and-coming brands from the U.S., Canada and Europe, and this presents exciting new opportunities for the international retailers of these countries.

ASAP Show is pleased to announce the 9th edition of the ASAP Buying Trip to China and the 3rd Edition of Fashion International Trade Show (FITS). The eleven-day trip will take place Friday October 19th through Monday October 29th. Participants are advised to depart from the U.S.A. or E.U. to arrive at Pudong Airport in Shanghai where they can check in to their hotel.

The buying trip will include visits to Hangzhou and Ningbo. Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, is Zhejiang’s political, cultural and economic center. It is an important city of economy on the south wing of Yangzte Delta, and since the adoption of the reform and opening-up policy the GDP of Hangzhou has increased at an average rate of 22.3% annually. The main industries of this region include the business of textile, silk, machinery, electronics, chemicals, light industry, and food processing.

By Marie Marra

Actress Reese Witherspoon, in her “Legally Blonde” film role as Southern California fashion maven turned Bostonian and Harvard Law student, outlined the Apparel Buyer’s Challenge:

“Whoever said ‘peach’ is the new ‘pink’ was truly deranged.”

To buyers of women’s, men’s and youth apparel, forecasting color trends two or three seasons ahead can seem like a random turn of the roulette wheel. Fortunately, we improve our bets by watching Color Trend Forecasters, and by working the patterns that emerge from major trade shows and apparel industry insiders. Apologies to “Legally Blonde,” but buying color lots for next seasons need not be a bad deranged bet.

Cite the Color Authorities. The Color Association claims to be the oldest color forecasting service in the U.S., issuing color reports since 1915. Because its color trend predictions influence the front-end of the production chain — from textile manufacture and fiber arts to fashionable car colors — CAUS looks 12-to-20 months ahead. (Yes, that’s a geologic eon in e-commerce

OFF-PRICE SPECIALIST SHOW
August 24-28
Sands Expo & Convention Center
Las Vegas
The largest Off-Price Apparel Show in the Industry.

Attention all apparel retailers: Mark your calendars! The Off-Price Specialist Show is the premiere show for off-price apparel and accessories, and it’s happening August 24-28 at the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas. The wholesalers and jobbers at the show carry men’s, women’s, and children’s apparel 20-70% below the original manufacturer’s wholesale price.

This August, complete your fashion week with these new additions to the show:

• T.O.P.S. (The very best of the Off-Price Specialist Show) will highlight fashions from around the show floor.
• “The Oasis”, the newly remodeled buyers lounge, will provide a relaxing atmosphere for all buyers, as well as feature the “What’s Hot in Off-Price” fashion slideshow.

By Mercedes Gonzalez

WOMEN’S

Let’s Get Physical
Stripes, bright colors, layered jersey tees, pleated skirts, stretch mesh, platform sneakers, and even accessories like whistles, visors, and knee-high sports socks all compete this “sporty” trend.

Embellished Craft
Use of jewels, studs, beads, and metallic discs was seen heavily on the runway this past spring. This trend will translate into more mainstream brands next spring. Think 80s bedazzled sweaters.

Summer Suit
It’s not your classic suit by any means. After all, the summer is about great prints, short shorts, and fun colors. Bermudas with cuffed hems are a bit more conservative paired with a tailored blazer. One piece overall shorts are also making a comeback and are being paired with silk blouses.

Wide Leg
Whether we are talking balloon shapes or tailored pants, hems are cuffed to keep the look tamed. The fabric here is jersey! Wide leg “trouser” jeans are also hot.

By T. J. Reid

Offering a sincere “thank you” is part of the repertoire of every successful retailer. These two words go a long way toward creating the customer’s final impression of you and your store as she walks out the door and heads home. And a “thank you” can also be the two words that draw her back to your store.
Here are a couple of clever “thank you” promotions that are sure to generate goodwill.

Extending a Hand of Thanks
This interesting and successful promotion uses gloves to create goodwill and draw customers into your store. With this promotion, you can use either inexpensive or more expensive gloves—your call—and you can use one of several different messages in the letter you send to your customers.
Here’s how it works: Find a vendor at, say, the Off-Price Specialist Show and buy gloves for your best and most loyal customers. Divide each pair, put one glove into an envelope and send it to the customer with a letter saying, for example, “I’d like to extend a hand of thanks for all your…” or “Hand in hand we can build your fall wardrobe…” or “It takes two to make a great pair; your other glove is waiting for you at…”

By Patrick G. Clifford

This past March, San Francisco-based Javelin Strategy & Research released Data Breaches and Buyer Behavior: Moving PCI Compliance from Costly Burden to Competitive Advantage, a research report with findings that should have startled any retailer.
The nationwide survey of 1,200 credit and debit cardholders found that, in cases where little is known about a data breach, half of all consumers automatically consider the merchants where they shop to be at fault.

When it comes to protecting consumer data, retailers and merchants are viewed as least secure by 63% of consumers, followed by processors (16%), card networks like Visa or MasterCard (5%), and issuers (5%).

Most distressing of all, 77% of consumers intend to stop shopping at merchants that experience a data breach.