Outdoor Retailer Wraps First Winter Market in Denver

Registration open, floorplan live for Outdoor Retailer Snow Show in January

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, California – (November 16, 2018) – Outdoor Retailer, the largest U.S. tradeshow and premier business event for the outdoor industry, wrapped up the first Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Denver over the weekend. The show spanned four days, Nov. 8-11, at the Colorado Convention Center and marked the launch of the new show cycle and the winter sports season with 552 brands showcasing the latest in outdoor apparel, footwear, materials and gear.

“Winter Market truly was a show of firsts – the first show in the new time frame, the first Outdoor Retailer Innovation Awards, and the first opportunity to see so many new products as we get ready for the winter season. It was a great four days of discovering what’s new and connecting with the outdoor industry,” said Marisa Nicholson, Outdoor Retailer vice president and show director. “As we close out our first year in Denver and continue to evolve the show experience, we look forward to seeing the continued growth of our industry and to helping the business of outdoor thrive.”

Winter Market was highlighted by the inaugural Outdoor Retailer Innovation Awards, presented by Capital One Spark Business and A+E Networks®, as the show recognized innovation in the outdoor industry. At the awards ceremony on the first night, PrimaLoft® Bio™ by PrimaLoft was named product of the year, and 11 outdoor products were recognized as winners.

In addition to the inaugural awards, the tradeshow was the first Winter Market held in Denver and the first time the show was positioned at the front of the winter buying season. It was co-located with Grassroots Connect, providing a full week of product launches and new line showings.

“Outdoor Retailer is an opportunity for us to discover new brands, to look for products that we don’t have, and to find inspiration for our own marketing,” said Betsy Bertram, brand manager for Townsend Bertram & Company, located in Carrboro, N.C. “My business partners Sara Abernethy, Taylor Dansby and I are in the process of succession planning for the shop and we invested in sending three people to Winter Market to have a diverse perspective. We don’t really make decisions at the show about new brands because we like to be really thoughtful and think holistically, so we’ll go back and look at everything at home. And, this being the first co-located show, we wanted to support both Grassroots Outdoor Alliance and Outdoor Retailer, so we decided to stay the whole time. We did take [one day] off and went out as a team and hiked because we are from the East Coast, so it’s really great to get to experience the Denver area. It allowed us to take a break and talk about some of the things we’ve seen, to product test items we had been seeded, and to regroup as a team and discuss how we were going to use our last day at the show strategically.”

“We were pretty much bell-to-bell each day at Outdoor Retailer with quality, longer appointments, showing the line at full capacity and making the appointments a meaningful experience,” said Brady Barry, Helly Hansen Marketing Manager, US. “With the show really early in the season, we knew logistically it was going to be interesting, but planned to put our best foot forward, come full brand, full line, and show it properly. We saw some of our major retailers at the show and were able to see others earlier than normal.”

Helly Hansen and many other brands will be back at Outdoor Retailer in January when Snow Show returns to Denver. The three-day show runs January 30-February 1, 2019, at the Colorado Convention Center and will feature the latest in snowsports gear and accessories. Registration for the show is open and the floorplan is live.

“Snow Show is where we kicked it all off in Denver, and we’re excited to return in just a couple months to begin year two in the city,” Nicholson said. “In January, the snowsports and outdoor communities unite, bringing together retailers, buyers, suppliers, brands, resorts and advocates as we celebrate the winter outdoor experience.”

Snow Show is co-located with Winter Sports Market (WSM), the annual trade show for specialty retailers and invited suppliers co-hosted by Snowsports Merchandising Corp. (SMC) and Sports Specialists Ltd. (SSL). WSM will be held January 27-29, 2019, at the Colorado Convention Center.

Following Snow Show, Snowsports Industries America (SIA), the non-profit trade association for the winter sports industry, and Western Winter Sports Representatives Association (WWSRA), will host the 2019 SIA/WWSRA On-Snow Demo from February 4-5, 2019 at Copper Mountain, Colo.

For more information about exhibit opportunities, contact Krista Dill, director of sales, at [email protected] or an Outdoor Retailer account executive.

Winter Market was the third of three shows hosted by Outdoor Retailer this year in Denver. In January, the Outdoor Retailer Snow Show was the first event in Denver, and the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market took place in July. The next Snow Show will be held January 30-February 1, 2019, back at the Colorado Convention Center.

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About Outdoor Retailer
Outdoor Retailer brings together retailers, manufacturers, industry advocates and media to conduct the business of outdoor recreation through trade shows, Outdoor Retailer Magazine, product demo events, media events and web-based business solutions. The Outdoor Retailer trade shows are the premier outdoor industry events for North America, providing platforms for critical face-to-face business initiatives, line previews, innovations, launches, networking and retailer education. Visit outdoorretailer.com for more information.

Outdoor Retailer is owned by Emerald Expositions, a leading operator of business-to-business trade shows in the United States. The company currently operates more than 55 trade shows, as well as numerous other face-to-face events. In 2017, Emerald’s events connected over 500,000 global attendees and exhibitors and occupied more than 6.9 million NSF of exhibition space.

Media Contact
Lisa Ramsperger, Outdoor Retailer
[email protected]
(949) 225-3329