High Marks for 2001 Boston RV Show

Despite indications of a mild slowdown in the economy, the recently completed New England Camping and RV Show in Boston received high marks from the dealers RV News had a chance to speak with.

Steve Moran, president of Arlington RV Supercenter, was very pleased with the show. "We actually did better the week following the show once we got them to the dealership for test drives, etc." Moran said. "Our traffic and unit sales were about the same as last year.

"The '.99 cent days' on Monday and Tuesday really helped to spread out the traffic flow."

Of the dealers RV News spoke to, this was a common theme.

Arlington showcased the Newmar NewAire at the Boston show and was very pleased with the reception. Moran said, "We saw more activity with the veteran RVer who was moving down from a large diesel pusher but still wanted the luxury and comfort.

"This coach offers a tremendous amount of upscale features that this audience demands. We had more interest from this audience than we did the so-called 'yuppie' or 'baby-boomer' prospect."

Bob McAlpine, show director for North American Exposition Company, hasn't tallied the final numbers yet but was very positive about the show traffic and felt that the numbers would actually show an increase over last year.

McAlpine noted, "The '.99 cent' special pricing on Monday and Tuesday helped to offload some of the heavy weekend traffic."

"Many of the dealers reported lot traffic up the two weeks prior to the show." This was probably a good indicator that the New England market remains strong and the people were going to the shows to buy this spring."

McAlpine reported that many dealers indicated they had good margins on their motorhome sales, but lower on travel trailer sales. He said, "The trailer prospect was shopping them hard on the show floor."

Boston and Springfield are both advertising themselves as the largest RV show in New England this spring. McAlpine was quick to point out that "It's really two different markets with very little overlap with attendees."

He's not sure which show is bigger, but is pleased that both are doing well.

Fran Roberts, president of LongView RV, was thrilled with the reception at the Boston show. Fran said, "We are having the best January/February in our 42 year history. My fear is not the economy or our sales efforts, but the availability of product as we see manufacturers cutting back on their production capabilities. We stand to lose business if the customer cannot get the product they want, when they want it."

Roberts was delighted that LongView actually sold a high-end Country Coach Intrigue and Allure coach on the '.99 cent days.' Fran joked, "It just goes to show you how frugal the New England consumer is; they saved a few dollars on the show ticket and spend hundreds of thousands for a new coach."

Roberts has spoken to McAlpine about extending the discount show days next year during mid-week.

John Pratt, sales manager at Bradford RV, said, "The show went very well." Like others, Bradford's experienced excellent lot traffic at both their locations the week after the show.

He added, "We did not see any real fear of the economy at the show. The customers were doing a lot of research, and they are ready to buy. They were buying the more expensive trailers, especially fifth-wheels. Tent campers were down."

Like Moran and Roberts, Pratt felt that the discounted show days helped everybody. Pratt said, "We were able to spread out the traffic, devote more time to serious customers, and did not lose people because we just couldn't get to them."

Overall, the Boston show received high marks from the New England dealers in attendance. The economy remains strong and the prospects and customers are very confident that they can move forward with major discretionary purchases.

As we write this, dealers are getting ready for the Springfield show, and it will be interesting to see what the reactions are out in Western Massachusetts, Vermont and Connecticut.

RVN