Small Local Stamp Shows. Will They Survive?

In the UK several dealers have told me that it is no longer economic to take a table at a local show. There seem to be both less dealers and less collectors attending and spending money!
Is this because of the pandemic, a poor economic situation , or the rise of a vast array of online auctions and opportunities to find stamps without leaving the computer?

I strongly suspect the latter. Somewhat sad, I think.

Yeah, my feeling is the last. Growing up, the only way to see anything was at the local shop, club, or show, as it had been since the 19th century. Then 25 years ago, the web finally came into its own in a big way, and that was that…

Shows and clubs certainly still have their place, and I hope those don't disappear. But for 90+% of transactions, the 'net is king, and we're all better off for it.

No one knows because no one has a way to measure the health of the hobby that includes the online segments. It is pretty clear that the legacy 'old school' ways of understanding the health of the hobby (i.e. stamp show attendance, club membership levels, number of brick and motor stores, etc.) is no longer adequate.

This community is an example of an online philatelic resource, imagine it as a 24/7 stamp club. It always has a good number of folks logged in and typically gets around 4-5 new members daily. Stamp Smarter has grown exponentially over the last 6 years and is now getting over 1.5 million page views per year. These metrics sound like a hobby that is pretty healthy but it is probably at the expensive of the more traditional resources.

So I think it can safely be said the hobby is certainly changing; whether or not it is growing or shrinking remains anyone's guess.

As far as shows go, I think they also need to change. Like museums, there is something special about seeing something right in front of you. But simply renting a space and expecting people to attend is probably no longer going to fly. Between COVID, gas costing more than anyone has ever seen, wars, oceans rising and aliens coming to conquer the earth the fear mongering is going to have to stop or become ignored if face-to-face events are going to survive.
Don

The smaller non-club shows on this side are circuits run by private companies/individuals. Some venues have been dropped due to low attendance over the years plus oversaturation with competing shows. Having a stamp show every weekend somewhere within (say) a hour's drive hasn't happened in many years now. There once were ones on Thanksgiving and Super Bowl weekends, which Americans would agree would be lightly attended at best.

Auctions as mail sales aren't going to affect buyers of stamps or sets that are less than about $30-40. I think it is not only COVID, but mostly people as a group don't have the spending money they did before. Somebody gave the figure that in the US c.2016, disposable income was that of 1996, which wasn't that great to start. With stamp stores gone, shows always gave me the opportunity to find stamps from 25c to a few dollars each from several dealers. Today it's hunting down and buying from several dealers, each charging postage, each with noticeably more limited stocks. And no more of that "I just bought this, anything of interest for you here?".

So, yes, there's a new paradigm. Some small shows will survive, no doubt, since the major ones charge dealers quite a lot more for table space.

The decline of local shows/bourses has been ongoing for several decades, and the pandemic seems to have accelerated the process.

There's much more going on here than local shows going away. I'm a club show organizer for a one time a year show. A bigger issue the decline of the numbers of professional stamp dealers. The show I run costs about 3K... 1K advertising, 1.2K venue and the rest is table rental, food, etc. Prices do continue to go up and it is harder to "break even."

I keep table rent as low as I can (haven't raised it in 10 years!) and since we are a club show were just want to break even. I need about eight dealers to do this. I compete with many shows in the fall for a declining number of dealers.

Think what will happen when the professional dealer goes away. At show I run, maybe a dozen people show up with collections over two days. True, many are kid collections, but not always. There's no online sales venue for these folks. The collections would just get tossed, or at best given to Goodwill. We have one stamp auction house left in Minnesota. This is a gathering place for those bulky lots that would be a challenge to sell on ebay.

Yup, gas is going up, but as one former e-bayer told me this weekend, it's also becoming tougher to sell on ebay with the postage rates going up.

A real change will take place with the hobby if the professional goes away. Would we still have the Scott catalogs? As Herman Hearst once said, without the professional it would become a hobby like people who collect matchbooks and birds nests.

Stamp collecting is a 3 billion dollar per year market with 60 million collectors worldwide. 200 auction firms on SAN. ebay sellers clamoring for and bidding each other to death at these auctions for fresh inventory. The WAY in which we interact and buy and sell has changed.

Even the big national shows are a mere shadow of what even smaller shows used to be. I was looking through some of my old stamp show programs and even some of the smaller Southern California shows used to boast 200+ dealers. Now, even GASS, the biggest show in North America, is lucky to get 75.

I have seen a decline in London, which has been increased by the pandemic, higher costs of attending and purchasing a table, less buyers attending, and dealers getting older or retiring or worse!
There were several monthly Sunday shows in Potters Bar, Hatfield, Stevenage.At one time dealers had to wait years to get a table at Potters Bar.Now it's down to one show at Stevenage every 8 weeks with low attendance.
The famous Strand Stamp Fair in central London was monthly, now it's bi monthly.

Online seems to be booming.. there is something for everyone ...choose which bit of the net you like!

In our area (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) there is usually just 1 or 2 shows a year and often coupled with coins, knives, etc.

Is anyone aware of any stamp shows/fairs in the fife/edinburgh area as I would like to support keeping this part of collecting going.

Physically interacting with dealers/other collectors would seem to be a good idea nad also a perfct reasonfor a social event (cheese and wine

My local club has announced a Fall bourse but hasn't set a date. We also have a bricks and mortar store that still operates. It's a shame but I don't pay much attention to either.

Nuc5, next month, just a bit further north is Scottish Congress in Perth (postponed for past two years) - one of my favorite UK shows but this year it conflicts with Westpex San Francisco.

https://www.scottishphilately.co.uk/congress.php

I found the London International overall as strong as Europhilex 2015 - the last major London international.

And I had a table at the Royal National, Russell Square, London on Friday and picked up a couple of new postal history collectors. The main reason for moving that show from monthly to bimonthly due to the hotel raising the room rental by 400% "due to Covid"

Steve

I have to say I've never been a habituee of collectors' fairs or clubs. Having worked in a record shop, a fair always felt like the day-to-day horrors of dealing with the public multiplied. I also recall the comment of a friend when she helped out her husband at a record fair in Melbourne: "God, I've never seen so much unwashed hair in one place". I should say that I'm sure Steve is always perfectly groomed.

The internet has been a godsend for collectors like me who live in in rural areas as well as the housebound and many others. The evolution away from small local shows was inevitable. I would have to buy $4.50/gallon gas and drive at least one hour round trip to visit the closest show and view a selection of merchandise that is a tiny fraction of what I can view and purchase on the net. Get used to the shows being gone because that is the future.