“CIROBE was so good last year that I didn’t think it could bet any better,” according to Marshall Smith, one of the founders.  “Friday afternoon was even busier than last year. It was really unbelievable.” Smith added that he didn’t know if as many good books were there as the previous year or if every one sold as much, but it was not for lack of attendees.  Retailers were up a few percentage points as were number of tables sold.
 
“Something new that we tried this year was putting Kudzu’s breakout room right in the Southeast Hall. We were not quite sure how that would turn out but everyone was pleased with the results. In past years Kudzu’s breakout room was not in the same location.  CIROBE also closed down earlier this year, 2 p.m. on Sunday. Marshall said there were only a few complaints- those from people still writing up orders.
 
Smith said he was pleased with the international presence at the show as well as Internet representation.  “We had a greater international presence on both sides of the isle.  Folks were pleased with the number of international retailers there.” Internet representation included big guns such as Amazon, E-libros, and E-bay.
 
“Overall it was another good show,” concluded Smith.
 
Follow-up interviews with vendors and retailers agreed. When asked how CIROBE went this year and how they perceived traffic and business, here are some of the replies:
 
“Incredibly well! After seven years in business and six at CIROBE this was the best year ever," said Debbie Smith of Bargain Books Wholesale out of Grand Rapids, MI. "We thought we would sell more Christian product than we did, but we sold lots of general books. Traffic, from my perspective was up—even on Sunday, we had a lot at our booth."
 
“Very good!” said Dean Winegardner of American Book Company, Knoxville, TN. “We are not growing percentage wise as we were before, but we did as well as last year. Winegardner went on to say that they picked up a lot of new customers--maybe as many as 45 and although the final tally wasn't in yet,  the new customers alone may have totaled over 100,000 in sales. "We had Abrams this year and that went very well.” He thought traffic seemed up although most of their business was written in their break out room.
 
“It was excellent, better than the last few years. Very exciting, said Mel Shapiro of Book Sales. “We primarily sold to known customers and some we haven’t seen in awhile,” said Shapiro.  He said they wrote 30 more orders than last year with significantly higher dollar amounts.” 
 
“Actually, business was excellent,” said Robin Moody, president of Daedalus Books out of Columbia, Maryland. "We were busy all the time, from beginning to end everyday. Marshall, Chelsea and the rest of the crew run a real efficient and fair show.  We find it by far our most profitable fair."  He said they definitely found new customers there.  "Traffic seemed about the same  but was spread out better this time."
 
"It was dynamite! We had a wonderful show and were busy all three days," said Marty Cutler, president of Fairmount Books. "Paul Snow and my colleague, Len Berger  were there a few days early and wrote a lot of orders before the show even started." He said they do that in order to give their customers the attention they need. “We did open up a number of new accounts and what was really heartening was that we had a lot of old customers who come show after show.”  Cutler said they did get a number of people from overseas.  
 
"We think we did a lot better than last year,"  said Jerry Rosenbaum of J.R. Trading Co., Monmouth Junction, NJ.  "Traffic was better and we picked up more customers."  
 
“Being a first time exhibitor, I would say it was a huge success for us," said Matthew Moyer of Sports Publishing out of Champagne, IL. “We had two of our regular customers and all the rest were new,” he said. "My boss called me right after the show and said we'll be there every year." Sports Publishing had between 90 and 100 titles there. The company does a lot of regional titles but found that their national titles were gone before they barely started. Overall impression was that it was professionally run and a great location.
 
“The show is always good and this year was no exception,” said Jeff Adams, Jeff's Touring Discount Bookstore, Rochester, NY.  "But it’s all driven by what you have to sell of course."  Adams said it was pretty steady but he was surprised that Sunday wasn’t a little better especially with the shorter hours.  His perception was that traffic seemed down slightly but they did pick up one or two new customers. 
 
"It was awesome," said Jason Zutaut, Strictly by the Book, Fall River, MA.  "We had a great show and wrote more orders than we have at any previous show."  He said they did pick up some new customers including some foreign accounts. "Regarding traffic, for me it was hard to say since I was in the breakout room, but I had enough for me!"
 
According to Jeff Press, president of World Publications, N. Dighton, MA, it was by far their best show. [It took the edge off the Red Sox loss to the Yankees--better luck next year! :) ] "We had a surprisingly number of new customers including some from overseas."  Also, at their booth, something new, scanning! Customers could go around themselves, look, and scan what they like. 
 
"It was very good! Traffic was up and there was more activity in terms of buying at the show as compared to last year,"  said Jim Soule, Book Club of America, Hauppauge, NY. "Last year there was more looking, this year there were more purchase orders. We probably picked up half a dozen new accounts."
 
“I found business to pretty steady throughout the show and I was happy with the number of customers and the amount of orders we received,”   said Tom Rupolo, Sterling Publishing Co.  "I would say traffic was down, but only slightly." Rupolo said last year the company was only selling remainders, but this year he was selling a smaller amount of remainder titles, plus selling promotional titles and bidding on remainder titles which he said explains why his booth was a little less busy.  As far as foreign trade, Tom said he picked up a new wholesaler from Italy and another customer from the Philippines.  "Overall I was pleased with the show and thought closing at 2 p.m. was definitely better."
 
“I thought it was pretty good. I don’t have all the numbers in the computer yet but I think it was probably the best show of the year,” said Kent Rhodehamel of Canterbury Books Co., Holbrook, MA.  "Traffic may have been down some but it was not a reflection of sales."  
 
"I always seem to do fairly well on the buying end and made some contacts," said Denny Magers of Magers & Quinn, who has three stores in the Minneapolis area. "It really turned out well for us. We found some good buys."
 
David Sleeper of Encore Books, West Lebanon, New Hampshire, said laughingly that there was not nearly enough free candy and food. "It was really a different show for me because my new general manager was along for the first time. It changed the way I looked at vendors. Folks that I have by-passed in the past shows, he would look at, so we did, and found some good product. "Likewise, I found myself explaining about a lot of vendors that he wasn't familiar with. There were a few local treasures that we found from Pomegranate, Globe Pequot and JR Trading."

"I felt like we had a pretty good show, " said Steve (JR) Slack of SAS Discount Christian Books, based in Knoxville, TN. "Last year was our best CIROBE and this year was comparable to last year.  I picked up a few new customers which is always good."

Stina Forsell, of Maximus Books, NY, NY, formed a new company but is not new to wholesaling. She said the show was "good for me: The good news is that I know so many buyers and they are willing to trust me and willing to buy from me."

Paul Mann, who along with his wife Joy own 6 stores in Tennessee and Kentucky said that although CIROBE is a tough show for them because it is so close to Christmas--they still ended up with a boatload of bargains. The highlight of the show was an assortment of gift items from Chronicle. Mann also mentioned some other great buys- mini-books from Peter Pauper Press, calendars from Motorbooks International and kids' books from Penton Overseas. "Last year we sampled a dozen of their products and at the end of the season they were all gone." That's high praise indeed.

"We did nearly 250 routings the week after the show and expect to do that until Thanksgiving week,"  said Barbara Smith of Freight Management Systems, based in Knoxville, TN. "You can directly attribute the lion's share of those shipments to sales from CIROBE. We also signed up 14 new freight customers at the show."