Click here to subscribe to M.A.D.

Hartford, Connecticut

Good Exhibitors, Quality Offerings, But Hartford Still Lacks Customers

by David Hewett

We've been covering the Hartford, Connecticut, shows for over 20 years. In the beginning it was the premier show in New England and had an absolute disciplinarian for a manager (ask old-time exhibitors about Frances Phipps). Now there are scores of fall shows all over New England. Our comments over the last few years have been distressingly similar: the show is always beautiful, the quality always high, and the customers lacking.

We've been taken to task for negative reporting, but we can't change reality. This year's show had great merchandise but, again, few customers. One man, arriving about ten minutes after the doors opened, said, "I had to check the ad again to see if I'd got the date wrong, there were so few cars in the parking lot."

Many of those who did visit the October 2 and 3, 2004, show made purchases. We saw Peter Eaton of Newbury, Massachusetts, sell a nice four-drawer chest in the under-$10,000 bracket, and new exhibitor Anna's Antiques, Savannah, Georgia, quickly sold a Norfolk, Virginia, serpentine-front chest to customers from South Carolina. There were later reports that one dealer sold three cupboards and that an important mirror and a nice fan-back Windsor sold.

The hot spots aside, the lack of bodies in the aisles has a depressing effect on exhibitors and visitors alike. A week after it closed, we asked several exhibitors about their results. The best anyone could come up with was, "OK, I guess. Not good, but OK."

Where we were when we asked the questions is indicative of one of the problems Hartford faces. We were at the ADA/Historic Deerfield Antiques Show in Deerfield, Massachusetts, 55 miles north of Hartford on Interstate 91. That major show coming seven days after Hartford caused at least one regular exhibitor to drop the latter show this year and may have caused a drop in visitors. Then there were the five Vermont shows running concurrently with Hartford that drew a large following of New England customers and may have tied up dealers who could have been shopping Hartford.

One exhibitor told us the only way he could see Hartford continuing to exist is to move it to a November date. "There's not much competition then," he said, "and it would be cold enough weather to drive people indoors and away from yard work and other outside activities."

It's a thought, and the very fact that he had come up with an alternative to the present date shows how much exhibitors really want this show to survive. There are some wonderful things brought there by some very good dealers.

For more information, contact Forbes & Turner Antiques Shows at (207) 767-3967 or visit the Web site (www.forbesandturner.com).