Later, Salt Lake! Photo: Outdoor Retailer
Well, that was relatively fast. Outdoor Retailer (OR) officially announced today it will move from Salt Lake City, Utah to Denver, Colo. beginning in January 2018, when it will host winter OR along with its snow show. OR purchased the Ski Industry Association, the annual snow trade show hosted in Denver each winter, in May–which gave a preview of OR’s eventual landing spot.
OR will hold a combined show this winter, then host separate shows the following winter. The summer OR will be in July, 2018 in Denver. That’s a lot of ground to cover for Outdoor Retailer Show Director Marisa Nicholson, who estimates the new Denver location will bring in 85,000 attendees and a $110-million-dollar boost to the Colorado economy.
The relocation happened in a lightning-fast six months, just after a number of bigger outdoor brands like Patagonia, Black Diamond, and Arc’teryx made noise by announcing plans to boycott the show over Utah’s poor environmental policy. Thus starting a whirlwind for Nicholson. I caught up with her for a quick 15 minutes to talk about the announcement.
So why was Denver right?
We had quite a few awesome cities that came forward and were interested in hosting, which is a testament of what the outdoor industry represents. At the end of day, the commitment from Visit Denver and the Denver Convention Center and the people in and around the city, the hotel opportunities, it was just overwhelmingly impressive. And in addition, the industry wanting Denver to be home made it the right choice.
Come on though, give us some juice. What other cities are we talking about?
Because of confidentiality agreements, we can’t really release that. But I’ll definitely say there were some tremendous cities, great outdoor cities that came forward as candidates. Some of them didn’t have the infrastructure to serve the needs of the industry or geographically, they weren’t in the right locations. Ultimately, when we were narrowing it down, there were great options but Denver became the undeniable option.
The Outdoor Retailer show has found itself in the middle of an environmental firestorm of late, especially since the show’s move was predicated on poor policy in Utah and the industry’s reaction to that. What made Denver right from an environmental standpoint?
One of the great things for us is that we have a longstanding partnership with the Outdoor Industry Association. They are our extension and they work on those aspects of analyzing the environmental policy of prospective host cities. But ultimately, Governor Hickenlooper and Denver Mayor Hancock and Luis Benitez, the director of the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office, showed great support and commitment to tourism in the city and state and nurturing the public lands and spaces that the outdoor industry has to have to survive and thrive.
Marisa Nicholson has been with OR for 14 years, the last three as the show’s director. Photo: OIA
So can you break it down and give us a percentage of what part of this move was a cause of bad environmental policy, and how much of it was economics for OR’s bottom line? There’s been talk of a move long before Black Diamond and Patagonia threatened to boycott the show.
From our standpoint, we’re making decisions on what’s best for the industry, not our bottom line. Our goal is to provide a platform for buyers and sellers to get together in the most efficient way possible. Then we get to benefit from the amazing industry, the community aspect that creates a feel-good, excitement on the floor. It’s a very unique thing to have at a trade show.
Okay, so no percentage breakdown, then how much did geography come into play? Did it just make more economic sense?
There is definitely something to be said to be geographically located in a place that’s easy to get in and out of from all over the States, and internationally. Denver’s international airport services a ton of international flights and that’s a big boost for us. It means more retailers and more buyers.
Find more PR information from Outdoor Retailer, here.
