Houston Antiques Dealer Association Antique's Show Raises The Bar

Being invited to participate once again in the upcoming September Houston Antiques Dealer's Association Antiques Show (HADA) prompted me to share the innovative way HADA is promoting their show to improve attendance and sales.

For the last couple of years HADA has permitted exhibitor's to sell items that have been manufactured before 1975. In previous years the cut off date was 1945 or earlier. This change came about because attendance was dwindling and sales were dropping, a pattern that has plagued antiques shows across the country.

September 11, 2001 was the beginning of antiques trade downturn. Real estate and the stock market uncertainty continue to have an impact on a lackluster markets, but there are two other real reasons why this decline in interest in antiques has come about. The first one is simply that people today are not interested in period furnishings. Large homes with media rooms and over-sized furniture, simpler decorative styles and eclectic preferences are the new tastes. The second reason is that the baby-boomers and older collectors aren't buying because they are either downsizing, or they have filled their homes over time and have no room for anything else. While they may visit the antiques shows and buy a ticket, they are there to browse and enjoy, but not to buy.

HADA's goal is to appeal to a broader younger audience, the Post-Baby Boomers. Although this super busy group often buys over the internet and doesn't have much interest in antiques, they are interested in buying American Arts and Crafts, Art Deco and Modern furnishings by well known designers. They also like to acquire a few fine art pieces. HADA dealers are bringing original oil paintings by well known living artists to the shows such as Texas artists David Addickes or Dalhart Windberg.

HADA Exhibitors can now offer vintage clothing and purses, modern jewelry, 20th century garden furniture and ornaments, Asian exports, English and Continental porcelain, Ethnographic art and a whole variety of art glass, crystal and china produced before 1975 as long as it is not a reproduction, been reworked, re-manufactured, substantially altered, created or a married piece.

HADA's innovative idea has brought in new exhibitor's and hopefully the show will continue to improve attendance which will create new customers. As Robert F. James stated in his article published in the Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies 2008, “As the Internet assumes an even greater role in the commercial and social side of people's lives, there will be a decided swing back from the “virtual” to the “real” world. Consumers will feel a pressing need to surround themselves with things that return them to reality - a phenomenon that will manifest itself in, among other things, how people decorate their homes. People's tastes in furnishings and decorative accessories will favor the classical, the natural and the eco-friendly. This trend, too, bodes well for the antiques business.”

Read the rest of the article by Robert F. James titled “Antiques Shows Getting A Makeover” To order Click on: http://www.appraisaljournal.org/

For Tickets to the HADA Antiques Show Click on: www.hadaantiques.com/