MITM 8 VENDORS?? WHERE HAVE THEY ALL GONE?

Discussion in 'Minis in the Mountains (August 7 - 11, 2013) - Avo' started by batman1usa, Aug 16, 2013.

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  1. batman1usa

    batman1usa New Member

    Aug 16, 2010
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    I am just curious and don't want to start a bashing hostile thread so if it turns into that please lock and delete.



    This was my eight running of MITM and I'm curious what has happened or needs to happen to generate more vendors.

    In the first few years at Copper there were 6, 7, 8 maybe 10 vendors putting parts on, selling shirts, badges, shift knobs etc. As well there was a large tent setup by Schomp that offered test drives, free tech inspection, i.e. oil, washer fluid, etc. Schomp sponsered or comped dinners, and giveaways were represented by vendors and some vendors who weren't present donated items.

    Move to Winter Park, less vendors but still nice as well as second dealership added tent, with other goodies as well as added fun an enthusiasm. Thumbs up to Mini of Loveland and Ralph Schomp Mini.

    THEN? Only few vendors, still Schomp with large tent and second dealership not allowed?? or ?? No speculation just don't know. They "Mini of Loveland" did sponsor Autocross and great time was had at that event with some pretty nice trophies and prizes for those fast cars.

    Still trending downhill, this season brought only a handful or less MINI vendors so to speak. Schomp doesn't show up until? Friday? and with a 10x10 popup and keychains and shirts as available items.

    Test drives use to be offered ongoing from the beginning of MITM to stir new owners and to entice us older ones with new models.

    I have made this event a family vacation time and really enjoy the Mountains. I've made Mini friends and have enjoyed all the rides I've been on. The volunteers and the whole Mini5280 staff have always been helpful.

    This is the only National event that I've attended except for one leg of MTTS in 2006?

    What are other events doing to keep vendors coming back and to encourage new ones to want to attend? Maybe others are asking the same question but I'm putting in in writing.

    This is just my opinion and is not directed at anyone, just my observation.



    By the way, I'll be back to MITM 9, 10, 11, etc. etc. as long as it continues.

    Thanks for the site

    Sincerely

    JD
     
  2. maacodale

    maacodale Club Coordinator

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    I can only imagine the prime enticement for a vendor is profit. Income must exceed expenses. Some may show up just to say hi, but I can't imagine many would return just as a social call.

    How busy were the vendors that were there in years gone by? Nothing is worse than lugging a bunch of products to an event, not making any money and having to lug everything back home.

    As for multiple dealers, that can get tricky. They like to be exclusive. I'd say have one dealer and really kiss their fanny. Make them feel like they're really appreciated. If they make the commitment to support an event I think they need to be the main draw. IF another dealer wants to show up, I'd make dang sure dealer number one is okay with it.

    Just my thoughts.
     
  3. JCWRocket

    JCWRocket Member

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    I can tell you from my experience in working on the Mickey & MINI planning team, MINI USA has very specific policies in regards to "Prime Market Area". This rule/guideline states that the dealership that is in the area that the event is going on has the first rights of refusal to sponsor any MINI events. If they decide not to sponsor, the other possible dealerships that are looking to sponsor the event are supposed to go to the dealership that covers that area to essentially ask permission. This can be a touchy subject if there is a lot of competition in that particular area. It also can become confusing and frustrating when you realize that events like MITM, MM9, AMVIV, MOTD, etc, attract attendees from all of the country. The fact that multiple dealerships have worked together to help sponsor MITM, and other major events, is fantastic and show the spirit of the MINI community.

    It's always hard to attract more and more vendors to events. Unless your MOTD, which can almost guarantee 1000 people to vendors. But I can tell you that for Mickey & MINI, we have been beyond appreciative for what our vendors and sponsors have been able to do for us. And while not all MINI related vendors are able to make it all the way to Florida for our event, we still experience fantastic support. I'm sure that the same thing happens for the MITM organizers as well.
     
  4. Gil-galad

    Gil-galad Club Coordinator

    May 19, 2009
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    It would be interesting to see how the vendor participation at past MITMs correlates with attendance. Although I wasn't able to make it this time, the selection of vendors at last year's Winter Park Resort finale certainly seemed off a bit from prior years. It wouldn't surprise me to find out that low sales numbers experienced in 2010 due to the competition with MTTS going on in Denver caused the traditional MITM vendors to question the return on investment associated with their participation, and MITM has probably been in recovery mode ever since.

    A bit OT, but a similar thought went through my mind a couple of weeks ago while attending MINI on the Mack. There were 1700+ MINI enthusiasts wandering around the Little Bear Arena parking area with lots of enthusiasm and full wallets, just itching to spend money on MINI stuff -- and virtually no independent vendors or vendor-supplied merchandise whatsoever. A few T-shirts and window stickers. It's hard to imagine that MINI of Grand Rapids or MINI USA told the vendors to stay away. A seriously lost opportunity, IMHO.
     
  5. old81

    old81 Club Coordinator
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    JD, Thank you for starting this thread, I will watch it carefully, as I want to see other thought presented.

    I like the commentary I see, this is very important to me, the other officers of MINI5280 and the organizers of MITM of which I am just one of many in the club.

    Thank you to those who have provided insight and may provide insight.

    Don :)
     
  6. zinvestor

    zinvestor Active Member

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    MITM Vendor thoughts

    As others have said, the vendors will not come if they can’t at least break even on the trip. I am not a vendor, but I know quite a few fairly well, and have continued to do business with them through the years. I have attended MITM 5 times (’07, ’09, ’10, ’12, & ’13). My experience has been that since 2010 and the joint MITM/MTTS event, the number of vendors has decreased each year. At the 2010 event, I was on a bunch of rides during the week and had planned to visit the vendors on Saturday. Imagine my surprise to get to the vendor area and find virtually everyone gone (to Denver for MTTS).

    At the 2007 MITM, I spent over $600 with Way, in 2009 I spent over $300 with Way, in 2010 I spent over $300 with SCR Performance, in 2012 I spent over $200 with Richard Lin of Show Car Detailing and another $70 with Nick & Heather of Prima. This year, I was ready to spend over $120 for Prima products and more for some vinyl work. Since Nick and Heather didn’t come, their distributor, Elevation Auto Spa was in line to get both the Prima and vinyl work amounts. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the large sizes of Hydro Wash and Hydro Seal I wanted, nor did they have their vinyl work tools with them. I actually got the vinyl work done at Elevation’s shop by stopping there by arrangement Sunday morning while passing through Denver on my way home.

    Regarding Schomp’s presence, I too was used to their massive presence, with new cars to try and a mechanic who could take care of minor problems as necessary. Last year, I threw a code and they were able to check and clear it for me gratis. This year, DOS could probably have done that, but I’m not sure. Fortunately, the need didn’t arise this year. One of the Schomp employees told me that the Schomp presence had been coordinated by their Parts Manager in prior years, but he left and apparently no one else stepped up. As others have said, this does not reflect well on their support for the event.
     
  7. Way Motor Works

    Way Motor Works New Member

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    There are many reason I think events are loosing vendors. I unfortunately am one of the lost vendors. Up till last year I had attended every MITM since the first year. I can tell you why I didn't attend, but can't speak for each vendor.
    1. Travel expense to drive to the event is high. Fuel cost alone about $400

    2. Room expense. These resorts in CO are NOT cheap, and when you have 6 people it gets costly. Last year we went I think it was about $600 for the week, which was cheaper than booking through the MINI event rate.

    3. Food at these resorts is not cheap at 3x meals a day, we actually cut that a lot with a trip to the grocery.

    4. Event Registration and Vendor Registration. Vendors get charged for the parking space they use. I will say MITM has tried to keep their costs for vendor space down over other events. But a huge extra expense and pain in the but is having to register for the event on top of doing vendor registration. In addition to registering as a vendor I would have to pay the normal participant registration to be able to attend any of the dinners or events. And we all know these dinners cost, and if you have 4-6 people working for you this can be really expensive.

    5. Sales Tax. At Winter Park and AMVIV we would have to pay for a CO business license, then collect tax at the event and pay it to CO even though we are only there for a few days. Again it costs more, but the expensive part of this is the time we have to put into filing these forms and payments.
    6. Amount of time at the event to actually vend. This year when I looked at the schedule. There was only one day for me to set up and it was not at the host hotel, I would have to pack up everything and take it to the new site. Not enough time to justify above cost, and a royal pain to do.

    7. Tents and Tables. If you don't bring your own these are expensive to rent. At MOTD we spend over $800 for a tent to use for 4 days. MITM in past years was able to provide some at no cost which was a huge help.

    8. Time away from the shop. I have a full time business running here, when I'm gone my employees have a lot more work to do and can be hard for them without me there. I also have to schedule less work while I'm gone so that is lost revenue.
    9. Inventory to bring. We can never predict how much or what is going to sell at the event. So many times we buy more than needed, and if it doesn't sell at the event it can sit on the shelf for a long time.
    10. Event giveaways and sponsorship. After all that the event begs us or Requires us to give stuff away and/or sponsor events at the event.

    Now with all that said I can tell you I try to attend every MINI event I can. Not for profit as you can tell if we break even I consider that great, and many times we loose money, but still go when I can because I enjoy it. I love MINIs and love being able to go to these events and meet with customers I know their name but haven't met before. Trading stories and teaching people about their MINI and how to make it better is fun to me.

    So to those planning events the lower you make vendor cost the more vendors you will get.
    For those going to events. If you know you are going to spend some money at the event contact the vendor prior to the event. Let them know what you will want at the event so they can bring it, then pre-order it so the vendor cost is offset sooner. And even when your not going to events and want parts support them with your purchases rather than the ebay guy or the .com sites that just sells parts.
     
  8. old81

    old81 Club Coordinator
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    Good comments Way, I cannot tell from your posting if some of your references are to MITM or to AMVIV.

    Can you clarify, since they really are different events, our vendors have never been off site or other than in our main MITM area.

    Thank you,
    Don
     
  9. zinvestor

    zinvestor Active Member

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    Except in 2010 when they all went to Denver for MTTS.
     
  10. old81

    old81 Club Coordinator
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    Zin, good observation but only a 1 day hit, pretty well F'd Saturday for the folks who wanted to buy stuff that day. Other folks stayed around for some fine Saturday fun at MITM, some even came back up after they played in Denver.

    Going to Denver for MTTS was a personal choice of the vendors who went! Nothing we could control, nor did we want too. I was happy that the MTTS folks worked with us to stop in Winter Park for the time they did and put on a fine feed while they were up in WP.

    When you are a vendor, you are your own business, no contracts with MINI5280 or the resort we hold the MITM event.

    I suspect most had arranged with MINIUSA planners to be part of the Denver Saturday happenings, they did not share with us their plans, nor did we feel it was our business.

    And to be blunt, I would have gone to Denver on Saturday too, if I was a vendor, bigger potential to sale a few items. I went down to Denver for MTTS and I had fun, it was a 'happening', nobody misses it.

    Sad for MITM each time this happens, but probably will not move the dates of MITM for 2014, but anything is possible.

    Next year, is a whole new set of officers and planners for MITM.
     
  11. Way Motor Works

    Way Motor Works New Member

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    I wasn't trying to single out one event, I was just trying to make points about all events.

    As for off site vending, the bigger problem is off site events.
    A specific example would be the NUF car show at this years MITM was held at the Beaver Resort, not Christie Lodge where registration and vendor setup was. So potential customers would all be gone to the show, or as a vendor you would have to go to the show. And even worse what if the vendor wanted to participate in the show.

    We all understand drives are all going to be offsite and this naturally creates huge dead times during the drives and rushes just before and after a drive. But the good thing is not everyone goes on the drives so there is usually people still around or they can plan to miss a drive for a mod.
     
  12. old81

    old81 Club Coordinator
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    Thank you Way, good observation. At MITM in Avon, very hard to avoid the Car Show being in BCR which was about 3 miles up the road.

    The layout in that area makes it hard to do a car show in Avon, but with the next year improvements in Avon with the new retail street and a couple of new hotels in downtown, a lot of possibilities open up. Then we are only talking a couple of blocks away from the Christie Lodge.

    Group photo, if you want mountains you go up to BCR. :)

    Next year the Town of Avon has big plans for the park and a full Lake (it was drained this year at the time of the MITM event), that might make a really great group photo.

    I am thinking out loud here, planning for 2014 starts in September, only have to find out what MTTS will do to us or for us. :) ;)

    Don
     
  13. TheModFather

    TheModFather Well-Known Member

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    Wow just read the entire thread, and its like thoughts where pulled from my mind. I've been to MITM '07, '08, '09, (was in Iraq for '10, but sent my parents up for a vacation), '11, '12, and '13! To make things more interesting, I have only driven a MINI to the show TWICE! So I am always lurking around the vendors, and the local entertainment. Well this year, I did go and do my own thing in my Jeep for a couple of the days. ;) But seeing us go from Copper to WP was a big jump, some say foreword, some say opposite. I noticed the beginning of the decline of vendors in '08 but it leveled off until '12 with some of our diehards. You can blame fuel prices, fees, housing rates, whatever you want, but it is up to the attendees how many vendors will be willing to show up. The more people... The more $$$ floating around... The more people will be there to try and take some of that off of your hands, and replace it with a product or service.
    Simply put, the MINI5280 staff can only do so much on their own... It is exhausting work putting an annual 4 day event together, and preparing for people to come from all around the country. There is need for attendees to try and campaign for their local clubs, vendors, and enthusiasts to make an appearance. The forums, like this one, are a great way to gain support, and popularity. So get the word out if you would like to see a vendor make it to the events, most vendors in the MINI community are here because they like it not to get rich... And if they where guaranteed to at least break even on making the trip out, I don't think any of them would turn the trip down. :D
     

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