LAS VEGAS — After a two-year hiatus, the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT Show), owned and operated by the National Sports Shooting Foundation (NSSF), the firearms industry’s trade association, drew more than 2,400 exhibitors and more than 43,000 attendees from 100 countries to Caesars Forum in Las Vegas Jan. 18-21. Organizers are triumphant, claiming it was the largest SHOT Show ever.
“With our largest sales floor space in history at 804,000 net square feet, we couldn’t be happier with the outcome,” said Chris Dolnack, NSSF Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer, who praised his team and partners at ConvExx, Freeman, CSG Creative, Venetian/Palazzo, Caesars Forum and Maritz. “We never gave up, we persevered and delivered a high-quality trade show. We are also grateful for the leadership and guidance of IAEE, CEIR, SISO and UFI over the past two years.”
Besides partnerships and persistence, Dolnack attributes the show’s success to two factors: the growth of his industry and the need for a live event for buyers to experience products.
Between 2020 and 2021, background checks related to firearm sales impacted 40 million people. “Our industry is poised for another year of strong growth, with more than 8 million new gun owners since the pandemic began, and interest in hunting has increased for the first time in decades, fueled in part by the field-to-plate movement,” he said. “This is a high-touch industry, and it means a lot to buyers to be able to see and handle our industry’s products in person.”
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Caesars Forum, an expanded show floor, allowed hundreds of companies offering products for target shooting, hunting, outdoor recreation, personal defense and law enforcement to move from the show’s waiting list to the exhibit floor. The new venue provided spacious spaces for the show’s New Product Center and the new SHOT Show eXtra tabletop exhibitor section.
SHOT, which is not open to the public and is reserved for industry professionals, is the largest trade show of its kind in the world. The 2023 edition will be held from January 17 to 20 at the Sands Expo Convention Center.
Contact Chris Dolnack at cdolnack@nssf.org