Preview: Pomona

There's an adage 47 years strong among toy reps west of the Rockies: if it's March, it must be Pomona. And for 2008, it's as true as ever. This month, the annual Western States Toy and Hobby Show once again will play host to the region's specialty toy business, an event that, while small, continues to play a key role in the buying process for the show's most ardent adherents.

“Our show has a huge loyalty factor, and that's what keeps it going,” says Betsy Harney, president of the Western Toy & Hobby Representatives Association, the show's sponsoring body. “What we have is a nice, loyal business with people who come back year after year—both retailers and reps. It's a small and intimate show, but the retailers really like it. You can ask 12 retailers who've come and 11 and a half of them will say it's one of their most important shows.”

As of late January, registration for this year's event had “been going very well,” according to Harney, with booth sales slightly better than in 2007. “I'm not quite sure why,” Harney admits, adding, “Our show doesn't vary that much. It's very 'steady Eddie,' so to speak. It's very well attended—generally we have the same exhibitors with a few new ones every year, so I have to say that as far as this year goes, it's good.”

The show, Harney says, pulls in buyers not only from California and the Pacific Northwest, but from as far away as the mountain states, like Idaho, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, in part because “it's an easy show to do. It's relaxed. It's not 10 degrees with 2 feet of snow and a $300 a night hotel.”

Anyone who has gone to the Pomona show will tell you that it has its own unique culture. Attendance is small enough that buyers and sellers find themselves together not only at the show, but at the adjacent show hotel's bar and at its several official half-social, half-business after-hours events, like the annual Casino Night; the well-attended Game Night, where manufacturers demo their games to buyers; and the annual WTHRA Dinner, which includes Hall of Fame and Retailer of the Year awards ceremonies. The show's Tons of Toys promo rewards order writing with the opportunity to win “a ton” of free product.

“We have a lot of fun,” Harney says. “It's a combination of a very social show, but also one that's down to business. Everybody stays at the same place. You see them at breakfast. You see them at the dinners. I think that's one thing that people really do like about it. It's very laid-back.”