SUPERMARKET TURNOUT HIGH AT EAST COAST VIDEO SHOW

DAN ALAIMO

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Supermarket participation was strong at the East Coast Video Show held here earlier this month.

Chains and independents from all over the Northeast and Middle Atlantic states came to this show, which has grown to become the second-largest video event in the country. There were 8,558 regular attendees, with a total of 9,858, including exhibitors and others, at the show.

"It's a big show and I'm impressed this year," said Donna McNulty, video buyer/category manager at Wegmans Food Markets, Rochester, N.Y.

Among the supermarket companies seen at the show were Grand Union, K-VA-T Food Stores, Wegmans, Genuardi's, Giant Eagle, Wakefern, Pathmark, Price Chopper, Hannaford, Inserra ShopRite, Neff's Market and Showalter's. Among the rack jobbers and other intermediate suppliers were the Movie Exchange, Major Video Concepts, Prime Time and Cintam.

Some of these companies participated in a seminar for nonvideo stores, featuring supermarket video research presented by Bill Bryant, vice president of sales for grocery and drug at Ingram Entertainment, La Vergne, Tenn., and Allan Golden, vice president of sales at PolyGram Video, New York. Brenda Vanover, video coordinator/buyer at K-VA-T Food Stores, Grundy, Va., was on hand to comment on the research. Bill Bartels, senior vice president of Spar Marketing Force, Tarrytown, N.Y., also participated in the seminar and explained how a new type of service merchandiser is working with retailers that buy video direct from studios.

This was a year of many firsts for the East Coast Video Show. It was its first year in the new Atlantic City Convention Center. The expanded show floor held 218 exhibitors -- 62 of them showing for the first time. Also for the first time, all the major studios exhibited, including Warner Home Video, which did not take a booth at last summer's Video Software Dealers Association convention in Las Vegas.

"I'm happy to see all the big studios here," said Tim Ambrose, video specialist at Genuardi's Family Markets, Norristown, Pa. "I got more out of this show than I did the show in Vegas." Ambrose also commented on the heightened excitement level at the show.

"There is a high energy buzz on the floor," said Diane Stone, show director at Expocon Fairfield, Conn. "With the growth of the show floor, supermarket retailers can come to this event for an extremely low price and see everything they need," she said.

"Everyone is a little more up here than they were at the annual trade show in Vegas," noted Shellie England Tibbitts, president, the Movie Exchange, Oaks, Pa., which racks about 200 supermarkets.

The East Coast Video Show was a productive one, exhibitors told SN. "I feel that more business got done at this show than at the VSDA in Vegas," said Tony Ventura, executive vice president of Rated Gee!, Bethel, Conn.

"We got more business at this show than at VSDA," said Larry Lai, president of Bonafide Management Systems, Woodland Hills, Calif.

"From a traffic standpoint, it's every bit as good as VSDA and you see some people you don't see at VSDA," said Doug Dohmen, vice president of sales at Hallmark Home Entertainment, Los Angeles. "For the supermarkets, it is another opportunity to get some contact and visibility with all the studios."

The participation by all the studios is a major milestone for the show, said Stone. "It means that the show has been recognized by the major suppliers of product as a significant event in the industry," she said. Participation in the seminars was also strong, she noted.

"There is less star power and more information, along with some new products that have good potential for our store," said Ambrose.

The seminar for nonvideo stores like supermarkets was especially helpful, he said. "The supermarket seminar gave me some ideas on ways to merchandise products in ways we haven't been doing."