Tupelo: Playing a difficult hand

The older I get, the more I believe that life is less about the cards it deals you and more about how you play the hand you’re dealt.

A good example would be the recent Tupelo market. If you were there, you know that traffic was off quite a bit.

But you also had to know that the folks running the market did whatever they could think of, including giving away a Hummer, to boost attendance.

Sometimes, even the prospect of winning a new vehicle isn’t enough to drive traffic to a venue.

From where I sit, Tupelo had a number of challenges this time around. Among them:

* New dates. According to show management, the market was scheduled about a month earlier this time around in response to input from attendees. From my experience, any time you monkey with dates that tend to be fixed in the mind of an attendee, you risk confusing people.

At the end of the show, management decided the summer market will stick with its traditional August run rather than the previously announced June dates.

My advice to Tupelo: Get the word out now. Firm up your August dates, and then make sure the world knows what you are doing.

* Lack of new product. As a byproduct of changing the winter market’s dates to fall two weeks prior to the Las Vegas Market, many exhibitors could not or would not introduce product in Mississippi. That did not help the buzz factor that every show relies on.

* Too many venues, not enough business. The Tupelo market was competing for buyers and exhibitors with a bevy of other venues, including the Atlanta gift and home furnishings market, the Lifestyle Enterprise/Forbidden City mini-market in High Point, the Las Vegas Market and Canadian Home Furnishings Market in Toronto, all taking place this month.

Having said that, the Tupelo market has cultivated a loyal group of retailers who enjoy coming to town twice a year to shop. The market also has developed exhibitors who voice that same kind of support.

But much like the title of Mississippi blues great Robert Johnson’s signature song, the Tupelo market is at a crossroads.

Business conditions have dealt Tupelo an interesting hand. And while Tupelo is at a turning point, depending upon how the show’s managers play that hand, they need not be singing the blues.