Each trade show we enlist a small group of retailers to help us zero in on the best new opportunities. At the Louisville NAMTA show, we met bright and early on Saturday morning. Here’s what we gleaned in two categories; New Vendors and Items Worth Mentioning.
New Vendors
Encaustics: Clearly the show buzzword. The “Hot Cakes” line from Enkaustikos got all the attention for having a compact display and easy to understand merchandising. Sold in tins instead of the traditional stick form, it was hard for many retailers to pass up the drop ship show special. Get your Hot Cakes here! We’ll support the open stock colors and accessories.
Woodland Scenics: Modeling supplies for architectural landscaping and school projects. Open stock and complete kits offer tons of options for college bookstores and science fair project season.
Slice: A cute line of cutting tools w/ceramic blades. It was a big hit when shown at the retailer breakfast. Available in compact counter top POPs; with reasonable MSRPs of $4.99 & $6.99 they are a “no brainer”!
Jovi: Products designed to foster and develop art education among children. Featuring safe and non-toxic products for drawing, painting and modeling, high quality is their top priority.
Townsend Atelier: (Knead a Mold) Paint it on. It’s simple, has just a few steps and really works. Looks like a winner! Tell us how you feel!
All Empty Containers: We have some from Jacquard and Pennco, but the market loves these, so find more!
Williamsburg Oils: A cult following, but is this one for us? Tell us how you feel!
New Items Worth Mentioning
Canson XL Pads: Performance & value for sketching, drawing and multi-media
Global Flexi-Sketch: 300 pages of acid free sketch paper bound in colorful double-fold soft covers.
Gamblin Etching Inks: New colors and reduced MSRP’s can help breathe new life to printmaking departments.
Letraset Aqua ProMarkers: Waterbased, pigmented inks can be easily blended even when dry! To quote Craig Lemley of Dakota Art, “This could be the biggest hit of the show!” Available in sets and open stock.
Colorfin: New super shades in open stock and sets. Check out the new plastic palette. It’s stackable, of course!
Jacquard: A new line of waxes for the batik artist, encaustic painter and even you.
Princeton Brush: Real Value brush sets- Better quality brushes in attractive, informative packaging.
Elmer’s: New Crafty Kids are products that make sense in planograms for easy merchandising.
General Pencil: Primo Charcoal Drawing Set
Pentel Slicci Pens: Super fineline and very sleek. We already stock these, so watch for them in SMIAB. They are also featured on page 27 of our Fall/BTS Buyer’s Guide.
Golden: The cry from several retailers was that we should stock every sku to make ordering simpler and to be a “single source.”
Strathmore Recycled Cards: Taking the whole idea of a green, eco-friendly holiday season to a new level with blank cards in 6 skus. All are $9.95 with tree-friendly fibers bamboo, hemp, sugar cane and 3 others we can’t think of just now.
Chronicle Books: Urban art titles are very hot and CB has some great ones!
Krylon Sprays Rack System: The rolling rack is huge, but you may have the space. See the drop ship details in promos at glance; buy both and you get $70 in free goods.
Yasutomo: The new outdoor origami line looks fun and hot for the coming summer activity season.
Lineco: Clam Shell boxes priced right and look great. We’re looking into it.
Armadillo: Colorfix sanded pastel paper in ATC sizes.
Derivan Liquid Graphite from Armadillo: Little bottles of colored graphite you brush on to create wonderful and artful effects. Two small ranges, erasable and non-erasable. We have it!