2023 Hershey Show Draws Largely Positive Reviews – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News

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HERSHEY, Pa. – While the final attendance might not have broken any records, the key takeaway from America’s Largest RV Show was that the atmosphere seemed upbeat and business was solid if not spectacular.

Hosted by the Pennsylvania RV and Campground Association (PRVCA), the “Hershey Show” concluded its five-day run on a rainy Sunday, Sept. 17 at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pa. PRVCA Executive Director said the final gate was 45,535 people, a number that was slightly down from the 49,112 total from a year ago.

Heather Leach

“Overall, it was a great event,” Leach told RVBusiness. “The feedback I received from manufacturers and dealers was generally very positive, especially with the current economy. The rain hurt us a little on Sunday. If the weather would have cooperated, we would have been on par with last year’s attendance as we anticipated.”

Concrete feedback regarding the 2023 Hershey Show was frankly hard to come by this morning as many industry people – those who attended the Hershey Show – were just returning to their offices and trying to determine for themselves the outcome of the annual consumer-centric event, generally one of the nation’s two most potent RV retail expositions.

THOR Industries Inc. President and CEO Bob Martin indicated that they were in the early process of assessing things and therefore declined comment at this point.

At the same time, Forest River Divisional GM Doug Gaeddert was in a similar position.

Doug Gaeddert

“I’ve not talked to enough people yet, but guys I’ve touched bases with indicated that traffic was down from 2022 and that sales results were on a par with last year as everything, of course, varied some by brands and products,” said Gaeddert. “And last year was a pretty good year.”

“I think that sales year over year were a little bit lower this year than last year,” added Mike Lanciotti, president of REV Group’s RV division. “But it seemed like the week started a little slower and just kept picking up as it went on. I’d say year over year, probably the higher end units and the middle-tiered brands seemed to have a pretty good show. And maybe the less expensive and the lighter brands didn’t have such a good show.

Mike Lanciotti

“Not a bad picture all in all,” he added. “The REV RV Group, including the Renegade and Midwest brands had their best Hershey Show ever and Fleetwood had a really strong show while the towables were less than we had hoped, but still OK.”

The good news, meanwhile, according to Grand Design RV President and CEO Don Clark, was that there was a perceptible retail beat at the Hershey Show, an encouraging indicator from his perspective. “There was traffic at the show. Buyers were still out and about and seemed to be more thoughtful in their purchasing approach and those dealers and manufacturers that were better prepared probably fared better on the outcome of the show.”

Don Clark

So it was neither a best- nor a worst-case scenario, but something in the middle.

“Yeah, I would rate it as good,” said Clark, a co-founder of the Winnebago Industries Inc. division. “The consumer market is alive and well and I would even say that on the last day of the show, while the weather was not great, buyers were still out.”

Now, Clark added, it’s time for manufacturers like Grand Design to turn toward next week’s (Sept. 25-29) Elkhart RV Open House, now the North American RV industry’s highest profile trade show.

From a dealer perspective, Mark Meyer, co-owner of Pennsylvania-based Meyer’s RV Superstores with 13 locations throughout the Northeast U.S., said closing deals was more difficult than in past couple of years.

Mark Meyers

“The traffic was pretty strong,” he said. “I thought there were enough people there. It felt pretty busy and that part of it was good. But as far as the business climate, it was definitely tougher than it has been in the past.”

Higher interest rates, he said, made sales more difficult.

“We ended up less than we were last year, but not enough to make it bad. We were down roughly 20% from what we were last year,” he said.

Even so, interest in the RV lifestyle remained high as Meyer’s saw plenty of “tire-kickers.”

“That tells me there’s a lot of interest still in RVs, but buyers are probably not ready to pull the trigger because of what’s going on out there” with interest rates, inflation and the economy, he added.

Source: https://rvbusiness.com/most-seem-generally-pleased-with-2023-hershey-rv-show/