On the Way to the Big Shoe– No Peeking!

It is that time of the year again.  And sorry for dating myself with the Ed Sullivan allusion. The Umarex crew will be headed out to the desert for the 2024 National Shooting Sports Foundation SHOT Show soon. In case you are looking for a leak on new stuff, I am sorry, but you will have to wait just a little bit longer. I know, such a disappointment. 

In the way of a teaser, yes, we will have a few new items to show, like we always do.  We really look forward to meeting with our retail and media friends, and by extension this does connect us to you, our customer base. 

SHOT Show is an industry only event. There are three main components to this event: The manufacturers, the retailers, and the media. What people see, obviously, is the media.  Their content, both video and print, are the product consumers initially consume from the show. The key part of all of this are the meetings that go on between the manufacturers and the retailers.  

These meetings are essential and typically involve a good deal of the staff we take to the show.  Once the show starts our temporary meeting rooms will be occupied nearly constantly for the first three days of the show.  The fourth day is typically reserved for any unfinished business as the sales teams are eager to get home and get the orders and agreements made at the show in motion. 

What you see will consist of content created at the Industry Day at the Range, which occurs on Monday of the week, and content generated directly from the show floor. It’s loud at the range and it is loud on the floor.  In fact, Las Vegas is just a loud place. And bright! 

This humble writer does appreciate range day considerably. It’s not just that there’s stuff to shoot and stuff to show off. No, the big draw for me is that it is outside. And there’s dirt. Or what equates to dirt.  So what that it’s a desert?  And guaranteed to be windy. And the temperature will be between “colder than a well digger’s hinder parts” and “Meh, it’s not that bad”. At least there’s not a hotel in sight, nary a flashing sign, and the hustle and hustlers are far away. Well, on that last part, maybe the hustle and hustlers are the kind that I like?  

So Monday is grab McDonalds on the way to the range, check the guns, and LET’S GO. Tuesday is get cleaned up, grab some overpriced coffee, overpriced breakfast items, and WALK. Thankfully, we usually stay pretty close to the Sands Expo Center, but it is still a brisk 10-12 minute hike over to our booth. At 9:00 AM the doors open up and a tsunami like wave of people flood the floor. Not much else needs to be said about all that.  By the end of opening day, our voices are tired, our feet are tired and there’s still a long way to go. 

Supper comes late in the evening, typically around 8:00 PM or later. It will be overpriced, but tends to be pretty tasty.  I do have to confess that my favorite place to eat in the entire city of Las Vegas is the In-N-Out Burger between The Linq and The Flamingo.  Not only is it affordable, but it is super satisfying in a “comfort food” sort of way. 

I can’t in good conscience recommend going to Vegas for a vacation, but I do have to go there for work once a year. It ain’t all that bad, but it’s nothing like home or the locations I love to visit.  As the Flying Burrito Brothers sang years ago, “This old town is filled with sin, it will swallow you in, if you’ve got some money to burn…” 

See y’all from Vegas!