I saw this happening 15 years ago when I ran the Tampabay Hamfest.
First, the manufacturers stopped coming. The reason they claimed was the attendance was not high enough anymore, this when attendance was going up. They wanted to cut costs.
Next came the retailers dropping because the numbers were going down because the manufacturers stopped coming. To be fair, online sellers like EBay and the aging of hams now not wanting to drive far were part of it, but loosing the draw of the manufacturers was the biggest hit.
December’s Tampabay Hamfest was basically a flea market with one loyal out of state seller. They have changed the venue to cut cost some years ago. I suspect it will run for a number of years more, but flea market will not be enough especially to attract younger hams.
Jim
KG4JSZ
Sent from my iPhone
On Jan 1, 2020, at 12:12 AM, John Robert Stratton <N5AUS@n5aus.com> wrote:
Christine and Richard Lenoir own Main Trading Company in Paris,
Texas and have grown from a seller of surplus and closeout
electronics to being able to stand toe-to-toe in Texas with HRO.
Although MTC was within 200 miles of Texas Towers in Plano and then
HRO, MTC was able to become a dealer for Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu.
Hams drive from Dallas-Ft. Worth to do business with Richard,
partially because he accepts trade-ins.
For years MTC was a mainstay/go-to commercial vendor for most of
the Texas/Oklahoma hamfests. MTC in recent years has actually been a
vendor at Hamvention.
But read his current email. I have been concerned for some time
for the future of many non-Tier 1 hamfests, because they have been
unable to attract commercial vendors, resulting in lower attendance.