Hi Rich

Good to catch up at the show, the show did seem pretty busy and well attended

I know you are always open a bit of honest feedback

I know the Sandown show is the premier venue in the Mechanex calendar but this year even though the attendance was not bad I did get a feeling that the suppliers on the stands were cutting back, it all looked a bit spaced out this year and many suppliers have cut down on the size of their stands with some just a table, few pens and carrier bags

There was a noticeable absence of ECP and AP who usually put on quite a spread and do deals on the day

Quite a few new brand names on stands, but really did not look inspiring enough to stop and chat. I did get the impression that many of the suppliers staff looked as if they would sooner be elsewhere, many just said "All right" as you walked past, where as they should be dragging you onto their stannds and doing their pitch

One example was the Millers Oil stand, two guys on stools just watching the world go by, I approached them and asked about the new "Milliers Oil" garage scheme, he asked my post code and told me it's only stocked by a small supplier that I do not use, but gave me the contact of a guy he knows 30 miles from me who may be able to help??. The next day I had Paul from AP (5 miles away) call in to for a chat, I told him about Millers Oil and he said they have been stocking and selling Millers oil locally for the last 4 years clearly the Millers guys were ill informed about their suppliers / stockists (I was not impressed)

The only other point was the Costa Coffee stand, great coffee but no tables or chairs to sit and enjoy it?.......instead you had to squeeze past attendees at the end on the room at Frank Massey's seminars, this must have been a distraction for him and the attendees

For me the Diagnostic Equipment supplies stood out, they had all the gear on show, how to use it and took time to engage and have a chat

You know me well by now that this is not a criticism about the show but honest feedback, many probably feel the same but reluctant to share

Alexandra Palace looks like a great venue, but many of the suppliers need to up their game if they want garage owners to take a day off and battle the M25

Regards

Peter