Mixed reviews from merchants as MAGIC show opens

Marcus Paglialonga scanned the aisle in front of his booth and liked what he saw.

In past years, the aisles at the MAGIC apparel show were more crowded but they were filled with people who had little buying power.

"The recession was hard on boutiques and a lot of them didn't make it," said Paglialonga, owner of Las Vegas-based Gypsy Junkies, which designs Bohemian-style clothing and accessories. "The ones who are out there now are the survivors and I prefer that. They are buying."

But in another part of the Las Vegas Convention Center, Thomas Kovari had returned to MAGIC after a two-year hiatus and was not seeing much virtue in the light foot traffic.

"It is still a very hard time economically," said Kovari, owner of Apple International. "Buyers are very cautious."

As a concession to the recession, he had lowered the prices of Apple's handbags and women's jewelry in the past couple of years. Despite national indicators that the economy has begun growing again, he still has not seen enough strength to try for higher prices.

Show management did not provide figures or estimates on the number of exhibitors or conventioneers. Based on numbers provided by the show, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority estimated about 75,000 people would register. MAGIC officials said there were 3,500 exhibitors at the last show in August.

Some exhibitors hoped that more people would register on Tuesday or work their way over from another wing of the show at Mandalay Bay.

The opening morning brought a rush of buyers to Bettie Page, which designs 1950s-style women's clothing such as pink dresses with white polka dots. By midday, traffic had trailed off.

"For a while, all our models were changing like crazy," said Tatayana Khomyakova. "I think people now are going for lunch."

But enough orders had come in, she said, to maintain the upward sales trend since she launched the company about five years ago in Henderson.

However, the day started slowly for Swapeez, which started in Las Vegas last May selling women's sandals with interchangeable pieces. A $50 package comes with five looks, including plain straps, a rhinestone band and an evil eye.

"It does seem a little quiet," sales representative Natalie Fisher said. "But I give it until tomorrow afternoon."

Show organizers were particularly glad to see the handful of companies from Egypt. By an odd confluence of events, it had been chosen by show management as the focus country in the international part of the exhibit hall weeks before the upheaval that forced last week's ouster of Hosni Mubarak as president.

"We were concerned that no one would come," said Omar Sherif, the senior director of textiles for the Egyptian Exporters Association, who helped organize the Egyptian exhibitors. "But everything has gone very well."

Sylvester Saldanha, who staffed the booth for Yasmina Garments, said many textile managers found it difficult to reach Las Vegas because of the rebellion against Mubarak's three-decade rule.

"I think it was very important that Egypt as a whole showed their presence here," he said. "We cannot afford now to have people think that we are not in business."

Yasmina's owners, however, stayed home to try to restore operations after two weeks where very little got done, Saldanha said. "But that is a small price to pay for what may be very beneficial to Egypt going forward," he said.

Contact reporter Tim O'Reiley at
toreiley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290.