This past weekend was Backer’s 43rd Annual Pet Industry Christmas Trade Show and Educational Conference in Chicago, IL. Many hobbyists are unaware of this show, but this is because it is limited to industry members only–and is typically utilized by retail stores and distributors looking for new products to stock.
As a Chicagoan I am admittedly [...]
This past weekend was Backer’s 43rd Annual Pet Industry Christmas Trade Show and Educational Conference in Chicago, IL. Many hobbyists are unaware of this show, but this is because it is limited to industry members only–and is typically utilized by retail stores and distributors looking for new products to stock.
As a Chicagoan I am admittedly biased, but the city needs an industry show… and now more than ever after our hometown egos were dealt a blow in the Olympic first round elimination. Some of you may remember the World Reef Conference was originally planned to coincide with Backer 2009, but it has been pushed backed to 2010. We hope to see it become successful, but with so many aquarium shows popping up every year it is becoming more and more difficult.
The Backer Trade show is heavily dominated by dog, cat, and reptile industries… but aquaria still had a presence there thanks to road trip warriors like Julian Sprung of Two Little Fishies and Dustin Dorton of ORA. Both companies had large displays, similar to those seen last weekend at MACNA. Hat tip to ORA for hauling out their livestock to the Windy City.
The reptile industry had a wide variety of snakes and lizards on display. We found ourselves wondering to their exhibit areas to observe some unique animals like this Chameleon.
Some notable aquarium attendees included Nano Cube, Hydor, Reef Brite, Marineland, Fluval, CaribSea, PE Mysis, and LAX Wholesaler Sea Dwelling Creatures.
For our industry the representation was much less than the aquaria-specific MACNA, but it is understandable given the proximity to the Atlantic City show and the high costs to exhibit at Backer. Overall it was a good time and we ran into a few people from last weekend.
