ROSEMONT, Ill. - The International Housewares Association here in 2007 will take over the exhibition that had been known as the ARMS Supermarket Promotion Show, Perry Reynolds, IHA's vice president of marketing and trade development, told SN.
ARMS, the Association of Retail Marketing Services, remains a legal entity although its board of directors has resigned and its management has been dismissed, said Laurie Crosby, national accounts manager, Ohiopyle Prints, Ohiopyle, Pa., and former president of the association. One source confirmed that ARMS has not been dissolved primarily because there is no one left to dissolve it.
Noting that details had not yet been finalized, Reynolds said IHA intends to continue the exhibition as part of the housewares show and probably in the same North Building hall in McCormick Place it has occupied for the last two years. IHA is also working with GMDC, Colorado Springs, to provide an educational component, he said.
"What [ARMS exhibitors] do is important to the attendees who come to our show, so we should do what we can to support them," Reynolds said.
IHA is approaching exhibitors from 2006 as well as from previous years about taking space, he said.
"I think that the show drew a good baseline last year. It's clear that the industry understands the value of the kinds of products that are exhibited there, so I would hope that we could match the mark in terms of value delivered in previous years," Reynolds said.
ARMS would be 50 years old in 2007. It began as a trading stamp association, eventually changing its emphasis to continuities, and in recent years, to nonfood supermarket promotions in general. The board had concluded that the show, which had 38 exhibitors this year, was no longer financially viable for ARMS, said Jim Zimring, president, Kane Industries, Oxnard, Calif., a former member of the board.
The ARMS show usually runs concurrently with IHA's International Home and Housewares Show, and for the last two years was co-located with the housewares show in McCormick Place. The show was ARMS' only major activity, Zimring said. Many exhibitors, including Kane Industries, took space at both ARMS and Housewares.
Both Crosby and Zimring said their companies would exhibit at IHA. "If they offer us a place to set up, we will become members of IHA and definitely be a part of that show," Crosby said.
The ARMS show has been a focus of activity for supermarket representatives at the Housewares show, observers noted.
