Small Local Stamp Shows. Will They Survive?

My local stamp club in Eastbourne hosts a bi-monthly auction. Interesting to see over the years the attendance drop off, mostly due to the age of the attendees. Also finding the material is getting increasingly difficult. Here in East Sussex we are blessed with several stamp auction houses nearby so the action has largely shifted to them.

I wonder if even the larger stamp shows will survive unless they are held in certain cities. I attended EuroPhilEx 2015 held in London, I was planning on attending the EuroPhilEx held at Birmingham's NEC. Last year, I spent a long weekend in Shrewsbury. I took a late evening flight to Birmingham and spent the night at a hotel near the NEC. So, I knew it was easy to get there.

Even at the end of 2024, the hotels had raised their prices considerably. They were more than twice as high as a few months earlier. They only went up from there.

In the end, the high prices and the bad timing kept me from hopping on a flight. Also, I would have had to return on an early flight back home on Saturday to be in time to support my favourite hockey team for the final game of the season.

From the few posts I read about the stamp show, I get the impression it was somewhat disappointing. Royal Mail issued a souvenir sheet on the first day of the show. In the past, such souvenirs from stamp exhibitions held in London soon sold out. I found they were available from Tallents House.

I had to postpone ordering them due to a holiday and PostNL's tendency to return items sent with track and trace as soon as possible. Items are returned within a week.

Back from my holidays, I was surprised they, still, were available from Tallents House as late as last week. There are not even enough interested collectors to sell out 7,500 numbered sheets of the Dame Vera Lynn miniature sheet with an exhibition overprint, two months after the exhibition.

The exhibition souvenir with overprint at the top:


The original issue with the barcode strip:


I cannot say Royal Mail went out of its way to create an interesting souvenir of the exhibition.

Don't get me started on Royal Mail, NSK! I might have to use language unsuitable for a family-friendly forum.

My favourite Great Britain dealer is constantly attending stamp shows and inviting his customers to go and meet him, but I'd be happier if he stayed at home and sent me the stamps I order online without delays. I fear that I'm part of the problem, not part of the solution.

I have just been to a local stamp show today.....only 2 dealers turned up [the organiser and 1 other] in the usual grim hall. A few people looking, but I was there for less than 10 minutes. Years ago there were several local shows, more often and with 20-30 dealers and packed rooms of collectors in nicer venues. There is a slow and steady decline and unless the trend changes there shows may cease.
I did go the EUROPHILEX,a long drive for me! It was OK.

Interesting to hear about the slow demise of shows in the UK, always seemed to be the epicenter of philately. Herman Hearst Jr. wrote about the 4th Blue Peter Double Lifesaver appeal in 1984 where thousands of collections were donated. Hundreds of albums. There were 15 lots ranging from 50 to 90 collections in each. That would be a fun auction catalog to see. Of course I assume that since so many collected stamps in the UK perhaps many still do. Here in my area it is probably similar to many, while we still have a strong club of 40 attendees, we skew slightly older... Average age is probably 70 and anyone under 20 is pretty much nonexistent. For my part, I still run a club show each year but the costs are always going up and I loathe to increase table fees.