LAS VEGAS — Two weeks ago, Riddle & Associates, the Clean Show’s management firm, reported that the event had sold out its exhibit space for the first time in 20 years.
So, with more than 481 exhibitors covering 227,006 net square feet (the most since Clean 2007, also a Vegas show), and the June 5-8 event celebrating 40 years of being “Where the Industry Comes Together,” all the chips were in.
And it looks like the industry may have hit the jackpot.
Attendees streamed onto the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center immediately after Mary Scalco, CEO of the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute and the Clean Executive Committee’s first-ever chairwoman, cut the ceremonial ribbon.
Show floor traffic during the first two days rivaled that of any Clean of recent memory. Many aisles were packed, with attendees jockeying for position to see new products and to meet with booth staff eager to display and demonstrate their wares.
A Coin Laundry Association educational session about using Facebook to grow Laundromat sales filled the “Exhibit Floor Classroom” on the show’s first day. Convention center staff had reportedly set 600 chairs in the curtained area just off the exhibit floor and every seat was filled as the hour-long session began.
On Wednesday morning, at the midway point of the show, Scalco reported that registration at close of business on day two of the four-day exhibition was 12,374, roughly a 10% increase from 2015’s complete Atlanta show (11,264).
The final registration figures were not available this morning and will be released at a later date.
As for the business generated during last week’s show, each exhibitor will have to measure it based on their sales and leads. For many companies, it could be months—or even years—before the business opportunities created at Clean 2017 reach their bottom lines.
But on the surface, exhibitors polled throughout the show were virtually unanimous in their praise for the event.
Equipment manufacturers and distributors like Alliance Laundry Systems, Continental Girbau, Whirlpool Corp. Commercial Laundry, Dexter, Laundrylux and Milnor displayed a host of washers and dryers for vended laundry owners and investors to examine up close.
Payment systems provider ESD reserved its largest booth space ever, according to Wayne Lewis, vice president of sales. Split between vended laundry and multi-housing laundry markets, it was purposely designed so visitors wouldn’t feel cramped.
For family-owned and -operated Monarch Coin & Security, which is U.S.-based but has developed quite an international following, Sales Coordinator Danielle Hall says the Clean Show offered her the opportunity to meet with these long-distance customers face to face.
Looking ahead, the Clean Show will return to New Orleans in June 2019. Atlanta will host the June 2021 show. The 2023 show site is yet to be determined, with Orlando, Fla.; New Orleans and Las Vegas identified by the Clean Executive Committee as potential host cities.
Show sponsors are the Association for Linen Management, Coin Laundry Association, Drycleaning & Laundry Institute, Textile Care Allied Trades Association, and TRSA, the association for the linen, uniform and facility services industry.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].